For most, the prospect of coming up against Barcelona in a Champions League final would be a daunting one. After all, the Spanish champions are considered one of the finest club sides to ever grace the game.
But for Michael Carrick, May 28 at Wembley just can’t come soon enough. The chance to right some wrongs.
When Barcelona met Carrick’s Manchester United in the final just two years ago, the stage was set for the England international to display his creative talent.
On the eve of that Rome final Xavi, one of the finest midfielders of his generation and a mainstay in the Catalan’s line-up, described Carrick as ‘the complete player.’
What unfolded, however, failed to follow the script. Carrick’s wastefulness inside his own half allowed Samuel Eto’o to open the scoring as Barcelona went on to record a comfortable 2-0 victory and their third European Cup success.
The rumours from inside Old Trafford suggested that manager Sir Alex Ferguson held Carrick largely responsible for that defeat at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s Barca, although the Scot has never publically backed this school of thought.
After the comfortable 6-1 aggregate win over Schalke 04, Carrick has the chance to set the record straight and show the world that Xavi was spot on with his description.
Barcelona’s semi-final win over Real Madrid was beset by off the field distractions, and a similar spat between the two finalists ahead of the Wembley game is unlikely.
Carrick will be keen to do his talking on the pitch and it has only been in the last couple of months that the 30-year-old has shown signs of shaking off the mental scaring of that night in Rome. Ever since his breakthrough at West Ham United, Carrick has always been very much a confidence player.
Discussing that final defeat to Barca, Carrick recently said:
“I think the first three years went so well and then losing the final [in Rome] was a blow of course. You play as it comes in big games and have to understand it’s not all going to be great. You can’t play well for all of your career in every game, but you just keep going and going and believing in yourself and the form comes back.”
And it now seems apparent that form and confidence are once again coming to the fore, the Carrick of three seasons ago has returned. The same Carrick who created countless goalscoring opportunities for the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez with his delicious right foot.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that the £18.6 million signing’s reappearance into the limelight has coincided with Javier Hernandez’s emergence into the United frontline, thus restoring a pacey outlet. Rather than having Dimitar Berbatov dropping deep and somewhat invading his space, Carrick now has a target to find who is capable of finishing off his craft.
On his day Carrick has the necessary qualities to justify the recent new contract awarded to him, and it’s those qualities that will be needed in abundance to banish the nightmares of Rome.