Filed under: UEFA Champions League | Tags: Anderson, Daniel Alves, EC Bahia, European Super Cup, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Rafael da Silva, Sevilla FC, Sylvinho, UEFA Cup
Four Brazilians have helped Barcelona and Manchester United on their way to the 2009 Champions League final this Wednesday in Rome. But the one who has played more matches among them is exactly the player out of action tonight. Barcelona right wing back Daniel Alves took part in nine matches in the Champions League but picked up a second booking in the second leg of the semifinal against Chelsea and will watch the final from the stands.
“I am happy I helped the team to get to the final, but sad that I will not be on the pitch. I do not think Barcelona will be less stronger without me. It will not change the way our team plays. I am very confident we can win,” says Daniel.
The former EC Bahia and Sevilla FC player has already won three European trophies in his career (two Uefa Cups and one Super Cup with Sevilla). The one missing is the biggest of them all.
“It is not every day a team plays a Champions League final. We are very happy for that and trying to enjoy the moment. Manchester United is a great opponent and has the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo. But Barcelona will show the same football it has played this season. If we have a great game we will be champions.”
Barcelona will have one Brazilian in action this Wednesday, the left-back Sylvinho. Manchester United has right-back Rafael da Silva and midfielder Anderson in its squad for the final.
Filed under: FA Cup | Tags: Fabio da Silva, Manchester United, Rafael da Silva
"What about some tips after the game, Phil?"
Bernardo Pires Domingues
Instead of a notable win, Manchester United fans at Wembley this Sunday witnessed what can be yet another milestone for a new long-lasting family tale at the Red Devils.
Sir Alex Ferguson decision to leave Gary Neville on the bench rather than giving him the captain armband prevented the FA Cup semi-final against Everton from being remembered as the game in which the right-back and his brother and former United’s team mate Phil faced each other captaining their respective sides.
On the other hand, the manager’s team selection put together for the first time in the senior squad’s starting 11 both of the club’s new acquisitions from the same family: the Brazilian 18-year-old full-back twins Rafael and Fabio da Silva.
In the right side Rafael, who has had more starts than his brother this season and has even a goal against Arsenal at the Emirates to his name, struggled to cope with Pienaar’s offensives. Attacking-wise, though, one of his crosses was fired goalwards by Danny Wellbeck and almost ended up in the back of the net after a deflection off Joleon Lescott.
Fabio had an easier time at both ends of the pitch, but came off in the second half suffering from cramps.
“The youngsters did pretty well, in the first half especially. In the second, maybe because we’re all young, we lowered our level a little bit. My performance was regular, neither very good nor very bad. I think this was the game in which I got more nervous than any other, because my brother was playing”, Rafael revealed to me after the match.
“He did very well. Maybe because he hasn’t played for a long time – he’s played very few games here at Manchester –, he left with cramps. But I didn’t imagine he would play so well like this”, praised the right-back, who acknowledged the importance of the occasion – starting alongside his brother for Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final before a packed Wembley Stadium.
“I will keep this feeling for life. We let everybody know when we learned we were both going to start, all our relatives in Brazil. I don’t know how my father and my mother are right now, back home in Manchester; their hearts must be coming out through their mouths”.
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