David Leggat: Perspiration's chance against inspiration

Two years ago Barcelona toyed with Manchester United in winning the Champions League.

So, is it to be more of the same at Wembley early on Sunday when the English Premier League champions face the game's most technically adroit club side, or an avenging of that 2-0 defeat for Giggs, Rooney, Ferdinand, van der Sar and co?

United won the title in 2008; Barcelona are chasing a third crown in six years.

They rate as the world's most popular clubs. No question that they are deserving finalists.

One team are the game's pass masters, pinballing the ball around the park as if on a giant arcade game, their strategy all about control, holding possession until the opportunity to strike presents itself.

The other are full of top-class footballers, but whose skill set is different from Barcelona's, and means they cannot go like-for-like in tactical terms at Wembley.

Should United accept they'll have significantly less than 50 per cent of possession and cut their cloth accordingly; should they go against instinct and opt for a cautious philosophy or press the all-out attack button, reasoning that to be the best form of defence, but run the risk of being surgically taken apart?

A couple of statistics: Barcelona average 73.3 per cent possession in their Champions League games this season; their pass completion rate is a whopping 90 per cent (United's is 82 per cent); Barcelona's key midfield organiser Xavi Hernandez averages 106.9 passes a game while United's best is Michael Carrick with 74.4.

There's more in the same vein, but you get the drift.

United will fancy their chances if they can get wide men such as Antonio Valencia, Patrice Evra or whichever da Silva starts at right back, down the flanks and around the back of the Barcelona defensive line.

Midfield shapes as the most decisive battleground.

It is where Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Javier Mascherano make the bullets for the world's best player, Argentine Lionel "The Flea" Messi, and the razor-sharp David Villa.

Messi casts a long shadow over United's plans. He's snared a staggering 52 goals this season.

They might consider roughing him up (unlikely to work), man mark him (proven not to be hugely effective), or surrender some room but squeeze the daylights out of space in their defensive third.

That will be one of the fascinating subplots.

Sir Alex Ferguson was at his bullying worst this week, banning a journalist from the final press conference for having the temerity to ask a perfectly reasonable question about Giggs' on-field relevance to the final.

Journalists had been told Giggs - after being exposed as the super-injunctive footballer hiding an extra-marital affair in the past few days - was off limits.

Anyone in the industry knows that's a surefire guarantee of drawing attention to the player. The paranoid Ferguson is used to getting his own way, whether it be with referees, players or the media. It's a blight on the Premier League, but he could care less.

Giggs has had a strong season with United, bagging his 12th Premier League winners' medal in a glittering career which has brought piles of gongs, considerable fortune and, until the last week, a reputation as a poster boy for clean-living Premier League fame.

Sunday will test his character, as it will his teammates' ability to compete against the heirs apparent to Europe's greatest club teams.

United have kept hearing they're an ordinary side this season. Oh, to be so ordinary.

Both have European history but neither is their country's most successful club on the continental stage.

Real Madrid and Liverpool hold that distinction. Skill and savvy vs heart and soul. A winner? The Catalans by two goals.