Features

Barcelona rule in Europe

Author: Rose Young
Date: 23/12/2009
Football betting

As 2009 nears its end, we continue our three-part review of the sporting year.

May - Champions League final, Barcelona v Manchester United, Stadio Olimpico, Rome - Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola's European giants went toe-to-toe to battle it out for the continents biggest footballing prize.

Rome, with all its history and tradition, was the fitting setting for the game and after United made a promising start to the game, it was Barcelona who soon stamped their authority on proceedings.

Samuel Eto'o opened the scoring in the tenth minute after squeezing a strike inside Edwin Van der Sar's near post after giving Nemanja Vidic the slip.

As United huffed and puffed, Andres Iniesta and Xavi quite simply ran the show as Cristiano Ronaldo and company had no answers in what was an imperious master-class of football from the Catalan side.

Lionel Messi headed in a second with 20 minutes remaining to put the game to bed and the Spanish outfit celebrated their third title in their esteemed history.

June - Wimbledon Championships, London - Roger Federer was aiming to claim his sixth Wimbledon crown and regain the title he lost to Rafael Nadal in 2008.

With Nadal ruled out of the competition with a knee injury, the Spanish star couldn't defend the prize and this allowed Federer to seize his chance.

After dealing with Yen-Hsun Lu, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Robin Soderling in the early rounds, he then made light work of Ivo Karlovic in the quarter-finals.

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The world number one then sealed his passage to the final with a last four victory over Tommy Haas before meeting American Andy Roddick in the final on July 5.

Roddick won the first set 7-5 before the Swiss legend won the next two on tie-breaks.

The big-serving American wouldn't buckle under the pressure as he claimed the fourth 6-3 to set up a fifth set showdown.

An energy-sapping, high-octane final set commenced and was eventually claimed by Federer, the sportsbook favourite to win again at the All England Club next year, as he finally broke Roddick's resolved, winning 16-14.

He has now won 15 Grand Slam singles titles - more than any other man in the sport.

July - The Open Championship, Turnberry, Ayrshire - Although American Stewart Cink claimed the coveted Claret Jug, it was veteran Tom Watson that will be remembered for his epic attempt to claim victory.

The five-time Open Champion led the way on the final day, but with a one-shot lead on the 18th, he was forced into a play-off with Cink and it was here the challenge fizzled out as his compatriot landed the prize.

August - Ashes fifth Test, fourth and final day, Oval, London - After relinquishing a 1-0 lead at Headingley at the start of August, England had to win the fifth Test at the Oval to reclaim the Ashes.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, captain Andrew Strauss helped his side to 332 all-out in the first innings.

The visitors struggled to get into the contests and England, aided by Stuart Broad's five-wicket haul, restricted the Baggy Greens to just 160.

England's second innings brought a further 373 runs, with 119 of these from Jonathan Trott, leaving Ricky Ponting's men to chase 545 to win.

On the fourth day, England wrapped up the series win by 197 runs to regain the little urn.

With stubborn resistance offered by Mike Hussey, he was finally the last man removed after Graeme Swann claimed his wicket thanks to a catch from Alastair Cook to send the players and fans delirious.

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