Liverpool 5-0 Barca CL Final 2013

Charlie Adam and co bring Barcelona crashing to their knees as they secure the unprecedented quadruple. Having run away with the league and won it by 23 points leaving challengers trailing in their wake, Liverpool were able to rest players for their final league game of the season against their old foes Blackpool as they finally secured a home win against them completing the double over the Seasiders and matching Arsenal’s invincible season.

As Liverpool took to the field at Wembley, Barcelona could only look on with envy as Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson ran the show at Wembley, running rings around Xavi and Iniesta. Pep Guardiola substituted both of them at around the 60 minute mark which signalled the end for what was recognised as the best central midfield duo before Adam and Henderson arrived on the scene.

Guardiola acknowledged the Liverpool pair as the best he has ever seen. “I started off in the Barca academy as a boy and grew up watching Pele and Maradona but I have never seen anything like these two, they are amazing and possibly the best players to have ever graced a football field".

Newly crowned Ballon D’Or winner Andy Caroll netted 5 goals in the final, the first ever to do so, Guardiola was also quick to sing his praises “I think the whole world looked on with envy when Liverpool were able to pick up a World Class player for such a bargain back in 2011, not to mention the bargains they got with Henderson and Adam as well, all 3 players for just a combined fee of almost £70m, I’m sure Real Madrid were looking for the receipt when they bought Mesut Ozil, Xabi Alonso, Angel Di Maria, Sami Khedira and Ricardo Carvalho for the same price, it just goes to show how well Liverpool were able to exploit true value in the market".

When asked where the match was lost, Guardiola responded by saying “Everywhere, Liverpool were simply stronger than us in all areas of the field, they were able to bring on fantastic players such as Jay Spearing and Jonjo Shevley, whilst we could only bring on players such as Alexis Sanchez and Ibrahim Affelay, in the end that was the difference".

Lionel Messi also had an extremely ineffectual game and was despondent as his side was humiliated by a superior Liverpool team. “He [Jamie Carragher] was too quick, every time I tried to get on the end of the ball he just swept it up, I’ve never played against someone so young and athletic, I felt like I was racing Usain Bolt every time I went for the ball." Messi is also a huge admirer of Charlie Adam and would love to see him at Barca “Before the game I asked him if I could have his shirt at the final whistle, he is always the player I’ve looked up to. I used to watch Rangers as a boy and seeing the way he dominated the SPL was something to behold. I’d love to see him at Barca, he’d give us that extra dimension that Xavi and Iniesta cannot bring, but I accept that we would be unable to prize him from a side of world class stars like Liverpool".

I have been reporting matches for years and although I missed the days of Maradona and Di Stefano, I will be able to sit back and tell my Grandkids about the great days of Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson and Andy Caroll under King Kenny. Liverpool rejected £200m bids from City and Real Madrid for Carroll in January, and you can see now he is worth so much more than that.