Barcelona . By virtue of their third-place finish in the
2007–08 La Liga, Barcelona entered the 2008–09 Champions League at the
third qualifying round. Based on their
UEFA coefficient, Barcelona were seeded for the third qualifying round draw, and drawn against Polish champions
Wisła Kraków. A 4–0 win in the first leg at the
Camp Nou made defeat in the second leg immaterial and Barcelona were entered into the group stage draw. Barcelona's UEFA coefficient placed them in the top eight seeds for the draw, meaning that they would avoid having to play against
Inter Milan,
Liverpool,
Chelsea or holders and their semi-final opponents from 2007 to 2008, Manchester United. However, they could still draw
Bayern Munich,
Roma or
Juventus. In the end, Barcelona were drawn into Group C against
Sporting CP,
Basel and
Shakhtar Donetsk. Four wins and a draw at home to Basel placed Barcelona on top of their group with a game to spare, and despite defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 6, they still had the third-best record among the qualifiers for the first knockout round. As group winners, Barcelona would avoid being drawn with other group winners, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus and Bayern Munich, but they could still be drawn against runners-up such as Chelsea, Inter and
Arsenal. The draw eventually paired them with
Lyon and, as group winners, they would play the second leg at home. In the first leg in Lyon, Barcelona fell behind to a seventh-minute free kick from
Juninho, only for
Thierry Henry to equalise halfway through the second half, giving Barcelona an
away goal to take back to the Camp Nou. They needed a win or a no-score draw to guarantee passage, but a 4–1 half-time lead set the stage for a convincing 5–2 win. Two first-half goals from Henry and one each from
Lionel Messi and
Samuel Eto'o were followed by goals from
Jean Makoun and Juninho either side of the interval to reduce Lyon's deficit. However, a goal from
Seydou Keita in the fifth minute of injury time secured a 6–3 aggregate win and passage to the next round. In the quarter-finals, Barcelona were drawn against their fellow leading-scorers in the competition, Bayern Munich, who had beaten Barcelona's group stage opposition, Sporting CP, 12–1 on aggregate in the previous round. However, despite Bayern's impressive scoring record, goals from Messi and Eto'o gave Barcelona a 2–0 lead within the first 12 minutes. Messi and Henry also scored to seal a 4–0 home victory before half-time. The lack of an away goal meant Bayern Munich would have to win by five clear goals to qualify for the semi-finals. After a goalless first half, they took the lead through
Franck Ribéry in the 47th minute, but it was not enough for Bayern as Keita equalised in the 73rd minute to clinch a 5–1 aggregate win for the Spanish side. at
Stamford Bridge in the semi-final second leg. The quarter-final draw also determined the teams' routes to the final, with Barcelona facing the prospect of meeting either Chelsea or Liverpool in the semi-finals. Chelsea qualified for the semi-finals with a 4–4 draw at
Stamford Bridge. The semi-final first leg was played at the Camp Nou; although Barcelona enjoyed the majority of the possession, Chelsea's defence was resolute and they became the first side to keep a clean sheet in Barcelona in this season's competition, coming away with a goalless draw. Barcelona needed to avoid defeat to reach the final, but they found themselves a goal down within 10 minutes; after they failed to clear
Frank Lampard's pass into the penalty area,
Michael Essien fired a left-footed volley past
Víctor Valdés into the roof of the net. The rest of the match continued much the same as the first leg, with Barcelona retaining most of the possession. Despite this, they found themselves guilty of several fouls, while Chelsea made four unsuccessful penalty appeals during the match. Meanwhile,
Dani Alves received his third yellow card of the knockout phase, ruling him out of Barcelona's next match, and
Eric Abidal was given a straight red card for a foul on
Nicolas Anelka as the French
forward was through on goal. However, television replays after the incident showed that there was little contact between Abidal and Anelka. Norwegian referee
Tom Henning Øvrebø allowed a minimum of four minutes of injury time at the end of the second half; in the third of those four minutes – just when it looked like Chelsea were about to secure a repeat of the
2008 final – Messi played the ball across the edge of the penalty area to
Andrés Iniesta, who shot just past
Petr Čech's outstretched hand for the away goal that would send Barcelona to the final.
Manchester United line up prior to their Group E match at
Old Trafford on 21 October 2008. As the reigning champions of the UEFA Champions League, Manchester United began their title defence at the group stage, for which they were given the top seed. This position among the top eight European clubs meant that they would avoid drawing former European champions Barcelona, Inter and
Real Madrid until at least the first knockout round, although they were faced with the prospect of drawing Bayern Munich or Roma. Nevertheless, United ended up being drawn into Group E with two teams they had played against before:
Villarreal (whom they had drawn in
2005–06) and
Celtic (
2006–07); and one they had not:
AaB. Two victories – away to AaB and at home to Celtic – and four draws were enough to secure passage to the knockout phase of the competition. Following a Celtic victory over Villarreal in the final group match, United went through as group winners. This meant that they would avoid Roma, Barcelona, Bayern Munich,
Porto and Juventus in the first knockout round; however, their potential opposition still included Inter, Lyon and Real Madrid. The draw paired Manchester United with
José Mourinho's Inter, but since United had won their group, they were rewarded by having the second leg at home. United started the first leg the better of the two sides, and although Inter improved in the second half, neither side was able to find the net during the match, and United took a 0–0 draw back to
Old Trafford. The draw was also United's 20th match since their last defeat in the UEFA Champions League, breaking
Ajax's 19-match record that had stood for 13 years. The lack of an
away goal at the
San Siro meant that United could not afford to concede a goal in the event of a draw. A fourth-minute headed goal from
Nemanja Vidić, however, got the home side off to a good start, and Cristiano Ronaldo doubled United's lead four minutes into the second half. Shots from both
Zlatan Ibrahimović and
Adriano hit the frame of the Manchester United goal in either half of the match, but they were unable to find the back of the net, and the 2–0 result sent the English champions through to the next stage of the competition. The draw for the quarter-finals paired United with Porto, against whom they had played in the first knockout round of the
2003–04 competition. The draw also determined the semi-final pairings, with United or Porto drawn to play against
Arsenal or Villarreal. The first leg of the quarter-final was played at Old Trafford, giving Porto the chance to put the pressure on Manchester United with an away goal. That away goal came in the fourth minute of the game, but
Wayne Rooney equalised 10 minutes later and
Carlos Tevez gave United the lead in the 85th minute. However, with only one minute left in the game, United suffered a defensive lapse, allowing
Mariano González to score Porto's second away goal. Those away goals meant that United travelled to the
Estádio do Dragão in
Porto needing a win or a score-draw of 2–2 or higher to remain in the competition. A 40-yard goal from Ronaldo in the sixth minute put United into the lead, and although both sides pressed for another goal, it proved to be the only one of the game, making Manchester United the first English side to win in Porto. and
Mikaël Silvestre compete for the ball during the semi-final first leg between Manchester United and
Arsenal. Meanwhile, a 1–1 draw in
Villarreal and a 3–0 win at the
Emirates Stadium secured Arsenal's status as United's semi-final opponents. The draw had determined that United would play the first leg at home, and after Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo had early chances,
John O'Shea opened the scoring, firing home a
Michael Carrick cross after Arsenal had failed to clear a corner. United continued to make chances throughout the game, but despite Arsenal making a couple of chances themselves, the match finished at 1–0 and United travelled to the Emirates Stadium a week later needing only to avoid defeat to become the first defending champions to reach the final since Juventus in
1997. Although Arsenal only needed to overturn a one-goal deficit, their chances of victory were drastically reduced within the first 11 minutes of the match;
Park Ji-sung took advantage of a slip by
Kieran Gibbs to double United's aggregate lead in the eighth minute, before Ronaldo fired home a 41-yard free kick in the 11th minute. With two away goals on the United scoreboard, Arsenal now had to score four goals to reach the final. However, it was United who scored the next goal, as they hit Arsenal on the break and Ronaldo scored within 15 seconds of Arsenal losing the ball at the other end of the pitch. 15 minutes from time, Arsenal were awarded a
penalty kick after
Darren Fletcher brought
Cesc Fàbregas down in the
penalty area, a foul for which Fletcher was sent off – although replays showed that Fletcher knocked the ball away from Fàbregas immediately before bringing him down, resulting in some controversy as to whether Fletcher deserved a red card for the foul.
Robin van Persie scored the penalty to make the score 3–1, but it was not enough to prevent United from reaching the final unbeaten for the fourth time in their history. ==Pre-match==