"::^sunyi^::" United 'suffer' pain of defeat

Edwin van der Sar admitted that Manchester United FC were made to "suffer" at the hands of FC Barcelona as the goalkeeper reflected on failing to retain the UEFA Champions League trophy for the second time in his career.

Early blowThe 38-year-old was part of the AFC Ajax sides that defeated AC Milan in the 1995 final before losing out to Juventus at the last hurdle the following year. This time around Van der Sar felt his team failed to do enough to become the first team to win the tournament in successive seasons, following their triumph over Chelsea FC in Moscow last May. "We wanted to win and hold on to the trophy," he explained. "In the first ten minutes it looked like we could do that as we had some shots on target while they looked a little nervous. After they scored we stopped playing. They gained in confidence and we never really got hold of the ball in order to play our own game."

Missed chancesThe United No1 was picking the ball out of his net after just ten minutes following Samuel Eto'o's near-post strike, while Lionel Messi's second-half header made the game safe for Barcelona's treble winners. "We had a couple of chances and didn't take them," Van der Sar added. "At the end we were chasing the game, but they kept the ball very well and made us suffer. [After the game] the manager told us to look at ourselves and not to complain about other things."

Lost controlCristiano Ronaldo was quick to agree with his team-mate. "They played better than us and controlled the game," the 24-year-old said. "They created more opportunities and I think they deserved to win. We knew that making bad mistakes tonight would cost us and that proved to be the case. We started very well in the opening minutes but after that I didn't see much more of Manchester United."

©uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.

I'm so disappointed on mu deafeat..