It is a volatile relationship that perhaps harks back most meaningfully to a saturated evening in Holland some 20 years ago.
Before London in 2011, came Rotterdam in 1991. Before this rendition of the Champions League final, came the European Cup Winners' Cup final. United won 2-1. It remains a match of retrospective value. The Cup Winners' Cup may be viewed as a relic of a competition, a tournament that UEFA decided to shed in 1999, but it remains close to the Before Barca lifted a first European Cup and United a second came a salivating joust in the rain that projected a variety of drama that Wembley Stadium will do well to replicate this weekend. Barcelona possessed Ronald Koeman and Michael Laudrup, United had Bryan Robson and Mark (Sparky) Hughes.
Hughes - now coach of Fulham - was a venomous Welsh forward who struggled to find himself in Barcelona after being sold by United to the Catalan club in 1986.
He returned to United via a loan period at Bayern Munich and wounded his old side with two goals. The second was instantly memorable: he veered beyond the Barca keeper Carles Busquets to ravage the net with a thumping shot from the narrowest of angles.The British pop band The Beautiful South once sung the catchy ditty Rotterdam that prompted the lyrics: "This could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome, cause Rotterdam is anywhere, anywhere alone." Losing finalists cut lonely figures, but sometimes there are no losers over the longer term. Rotterdam was the precursor to poignant times for both teams.
Barca were floored in Rotterdam, but flowered a year later. Koeman, the blond Dutch defender, was famed for the ferocity of his free-kicks. He scored Barca's goal in Rotterdam and shelled a similar dead ball into Sampdoria's net at the old Wembley to earn Barcelona a first European Cup in 1992.
Ferguson has always regarded winning in Europe as validation of a club's reputation. He was five years into running
Repeating such a scoreline with United against Barca prompted similar revelry. Ferguson has collected over 30 trophies as United's manager. The Cup Winners' Cup was only his second. It came courtesy of the win over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup final that brought his first meaningful prize to Old Trafford. Several of the figures that played in Rotterdam ended United's 26-year wait for a Premier League trophy two years later. Different generations continue the traditions.
The pair came across each other twice in the 1994 Champions League. It came only months after Barca had been shredded 4-0 by AC Milan in the final of the previous year's tournament. Somebody had to pay.United when he came across Barca. The Scotsman sampled victory over a Spanish club when his Aberdeen side defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup final.heart of the United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
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