A new wizard for Wembley as Messi inspires Barcelona

DPA ©: Just before half-time Lionel Messi skipped past Nemanja Vidic with a flick of the outside of his right foot, held off the challenge of Michael Carrick and passed to David Villa in what seemed one flowing action.

Villa returned the ball across goal and Messi lunged inches away from the goal which would have put Barcelona 2-1 up at half-time.

The move encapsulated Messi's Wembley final, all shimmies and shuffles, feints and dummies, as the little Argentinian demonstrated to 87,695 spectators at Wembley Saturday and an estimated global television audience of more than 115 million why he is the world's best player.

The old Wembley had many heroes, not least of all winger Stanley Matthews whose performance for Blackpool in the 'Matthews Final' of 1953 is part of English football lore.

Now there is a Wembley wizard for the new incarnation of the stadium. If any player could rise to the occasion it was Messi, who struck with his left foot from the edge of the area nine minutes after the break to put Barcelona on the way to their fourth European title and their second in three years under coach Pep Guardiola.

It was a goal which broke a United side already reeling and left down and out when David Villa added a third in the 69th minute for a richly deserved 3-1 victory.

Already the Champions League leading scorer for three successive seasons, it was Messi's 12th Champions League goal in 13 matches, equalling a record set by Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy.

There was little doubt the man-of-the-match award was his. The world player of the year for the past two seasons now has a remarkable 53 goals in 55 games for the season.

Messi, who had scored with a wonderful mazy run and shot against Real Madrid in the semi-final first leg, a goal of Maradona dimensions, showed the comparisons with his great countryman are not misplaced, despite the player's own modesty.

"Even if I play for a million years I will never be near to what Maradona was as a footballer, and I don't want to be near," Messi had said before the game.

"He is the best player of all time. I don't compare myself with Maradona, I want to make my own history and do something important with my own career."

Now Messi is making history - his goal was, for one thing, his first on English soil - and United, who had also been looking like Barca for a fourth European title and a second at Wembley, were left to acknowledge his brilliance.

The victory was as clearcut as the 2-0 in Rome two years ago, and bore some similarities after United had enjoyed an encouraging first 10 minutes as they had at the Stadio Olimpico.

But Sir Alex Ferguson must have known it was going to be a long night after Barca began to take over the ball. Messi was the fulcrum, taking and giving passes, with Pedro and David Villa beginning to make dangerous runs inside from wide areas.

Vidic and Rio Ferdinand often found themselves having to make last-second blocks, or left to rely on Edwin van der Sar to save as Barca started to hit shots on goal or just wide.

It was little surprise when the Spanish champions took the lead, Xavi flicking a pass for Pedro to measure a shot past the Dutch keeper.

While Barca had Messi, United's own force of nature Wayne Rooney brought United briefly to life with an equalizer against the run of play, after combining well with Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs.

But it was a night in London when United had no answer to the irrepressible Messi, who almost struck again with an 18-metre shot kept out by the legs of Van der Sar and then saw a back flick cleared off the line.

Soon Messi was tormenting United again, getting past substitute Nani on the right in the lead up to the third goal. United's defence failed to clear and Sergio Busquets fed Villa who curled the ball into the top corner, with Van der Sar in his last game before retirement vainly diving to the left

It has been a watershed season for Messi in which Guardiola decided to bring him off the right wing and give him a free role. United, for all their preparations and lessons they thought they had learned from Rome, had no answers.

"It has been a great season," said Messi last week, "and the final at Wembley will be the culmination of it."

Not quite. He will take a short break in June then will fly off to Argentina for the Copa America tournament, keen to finally win something for his country after six years of frustration.