A repeat of the final from 2 years earlier as we came up against Barcelona once again. We weren't supposed to face them in the 2009 final as they should've been knocked out in the semi-final against Chelsea after the referee had a shocker in the second-leg at Stamford Bridge.
Yes I am still salty about that and will always be salty about that and whether or not we would've beaten Chelsea in the final again, I don't know but I would have liked to find out and I'm sure Chelsea fans would've wanted to as well.
Anyway, back to 2011. After winning the Premier League that season, we looked on course for another League and CL double just as we did in 2008. The last team I wanted us to face in the final though, was Barcelona, a team that was getting better and better (somehow) under Pep Guardiola, although I also sort of wanted them so that we could get some revenge.
I was more nervous for this one than that 2009 final in Rome as they were a younger squad and they had the prime Lionel Messi in their side. I knew we could still do this, of course, we're Man United for crying out loud, but this was going to be one tough game.
The game was one-sided; their sided, I mean side. We did start off well just as we did in Rome but after sometime, Barcelona then started to dominate us which carried on for the rest of the game. I had a feeling that it would be like this but I had no idea that it would be this bad.
They dominated the ball, pressed us high, won the ball back quickly; they were pretty much unplayable from then on.
Pedro scored around the half hour mark and that's when I feared the worst. However, Wayne Rooney equalized not long after, giving us a lot of hope for the remainder of the match. It was a really good goal too as he had a good interchange with Ryan Giggs before putting it in the top corner. The game was back on.
Lionel Messi (of course) scored to make it 2-1 not long after half time. Hopes were dashed again.
We didn't recover after that. We couldn't recover after that.
David Villa then scored around 70 minutes and pretty much ended proceedings. The thought of knowing that you have no chance of coming back despite there being 20 minutes or so left was really damning. Barca did deserve to win though, as they were absolutely brilliant (unfortunately). Fair play to them.
What made this match even worse was the fact that it was at Wembley, was a repeat of 2009 and we got no revenge and I watched the game at my cousin's house where most of the family were there, all of whom are Liverpool fans.
One of them ended up making a joke about the game afterwards and I was about to break the TV. I was (and still am) quite a sore loser but back then, it was very hard for me to control it. Somehow, I managed to hold back, luckily.
Over the years I did calm down a bit and thanks to United's form since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, losing and being disappointed has become all to familiar allowing me to get more used to the feeling of defeat.
Thanks United, thanks a lot.
That was a long time ago now and we need to look forward. I long for the days when we compete in Champions League finals again even if it means us losing like we did in 2011. At least we will know that we are heading in the right direction.
What is your darkest day as a Man Utd fan?