Man United will overcome Barcelona

Manchester United are entering uncharted waters, writes Kevin McCarra in the Guardian. "With a second consecutive appearance in the final, the club has a dominance in the Champions League beyond all its previous experience. Heads are bound to be awash with hope for prolonged ascendancy as much as for a joyous outcome tonight."

Lady Luck is favouring the Old Trafford side too - where they miss just Darren Fletcher from the optimum line-up for tonight's titanic clash, Barcelona must do without three-quarters of their first-choice defence, with Rafael Marquez, Daniel Alves and Eric Abidal all either injured or suspended. Yet this in itself could work against the Mancunians.

Sir Alex's team faces "so encouraging a prospect as to be unsettling for anyone, such as a football manager, who is prone to superstition," writes McCarra. "The disadvantages confronting Barcelona may launch this final into unpredictability. So much the better for those around the world who yearn for a spectacle from an occasion in which the viewers' anticipation too often curdles into peevishness."

For McCarra, the superiority that Man Utd must feel going into this match could inspire their opponents. "There is cause to believe that the handicaps borne by Barcelona will merely bring out the best in them. Even with Alves and Abidal, defence had never been the speciality of Pep Guardiola's side. Now there is no option but to commit themselves to that beautiful onslaught of passing and movement that so distinguishes them."

However, McCarra concludes, "United's all-round quality is superior on this night to that of an undermanned Barcelona. All that remains is to prove it. Extending command over Europe will be stressful, but the next task for Ferguson's team is to win this evening in a way that makes opponents fear the seasons ahead." ·