"Give him one opportunity, and he is clinical" - Mike Phelan provides fascinating insight on how Manchester United tried to cope with Lionel Messi in 2009

Former Manchester United coach Mike Phelan has revealed how he and Sir Alex Ferguson failed to cope with Barcelona and Lionel Messi in the 2009 Champions League final.

The holders could not respond to a Samuel Eto'o early goal and a Messi wonder strike as Barcelona became the first Spanish team to win the continental treble. Messi would go on to win his first of seven Ballon d'Or awards that year.

Phelan, speaking to Jason Pettigrove, admitted that conceding an early goal was a problem for Manchester United that night.

The team hoped to deny Lionel Messi scoring chances. Although Messi didn't score the opener, he was heavily involved in the build-up. Barcelona then took control of the game after that early Samuel Eto'o strike.

“Ten minutes into a game you feel as though you’ve still got a little bit to offer," said Phelan. “The problem was it became a key moment, because when Barcelona got in front, even though we knew we’d get opportunities, it was going to be very difficult to wrestle possession from them. That was going to be a real issue."

Although United had 85 minutes to respond and get back into the contest, Barcelona bossed possession. That denied Alex Ferguson's men a way back into the game. Phelan elaborated:

“When someone is leading in a game, and they’re of the magnitude of Barcelona, you think ‘ok there’s still 85 minutes left in the grand scheme of things’, but 75 minutes of that could be controlled by them. Opportunities for us were always going to be few and far between, but one goal was never going to be the end of the world either."

Phelan noted how Barcelona eventually punished United, with Lionel Messi scoring the second of the night to end the game as a contest. He admitted that there were errors made by United in the build-up to Messi's strike, saying:

“With Messi’s goal, there were elements of errors on our part for sure, but they put us in those positions. I think Messi himself finished it the way Messi does."

"There’s a lot you can get away with out on the field if you’re at a certain level, where it might take two or three opportunities before the opposition are clinical, but certainly in Messi’s case, give him one opportunity, and he is clinical – that was the difference. We hoped he wouldn’t get that one opportunity, but it was very difficult to stop it, and it didn’t help that we were making mistakes."

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Barcelona were ruthless: Michael Carrick's memories of Lionel Messi against Manchester United in 2009

Barcelona vs Manchester United - 2009 UEFA Champions League Final

United caretaker manager Michael Carrick has said that the loss to Barcelona was one of the hardest he has ever had to deal with. Describing the first goal the Blaugrana scored that night, Carrick noted how ruthless Messi and co. were in transition, saying:

"I was loose with a header, and Iniesta was on it in a flash, passing to Lionel Messi. Barcelona were ruthless in transition."

"I was close to Messi, but couldn’t prevent him passing back to Iniesta who got ahead of me and Anderson. Iniesta slipped the ball to Eto’o, who got away from Vidic."

The United legend explained how the loss affected him, saying:

"That was the worst I’ve felt on a football pitch after a game by a mile. I was mentally devastated, angry and frustrated by my performance and by United’s."