via www.regiekun.com

Why a winner thread, you moronically ask? Because these are the two best teams left. Manchester United and Barcelona have both have won their respective leagues and outlasted every other team in a grueling competition. They are literally the best of the best and have only one thing left to prove, who's the best in all of Europe and quite possibly the universe.

When you're one of the biggest events in the world of sports, you get to do this.

via mit.zenfs.com

But First, a Word About Messi.

One of the best players of his generation, Messi is one those rare players that come along once in a lifetime and blows your fucking mind. It's not his sheer technical skill, the way the ball seems attached to his feet when dribbling at full speed, or the way he gets shots out from impossible angles or when he coolly puts a ball past the keeper as if he had all the time in the world and the experience of a veteran and not a 23 year old who looks more like a Dungeons and Dragons player than a world-class athlete. It's not even his trademark runs where he leaves defenders standing around wondering what the hell just happened, dazed with an equal amount of frustration and awe.

What makes him different from all the others is that he tries these things in the first place. He's not a player burned out from years of playing the same sport, now doing a job of what was once a game. He hasn't learned that you're not supposed to try crazy plays that you could pull off in the lower leagues, and have that flair for the game that some coaches try to suppress so that you do what you're supposed to do and nothing more. Out there he's a kid, enjoying the hell out of the game he loves, and when he sees four defenders in front of him, he'll think " Hmm, I guess I'll go through all of them and score a goal".

But talk is for terrorists and socialists, allow me to demonstrate.

You're not supposed to to chip the ball to yourself to then score a goal, as seen here.

Champions: Gol de Messi en El Barcelona-Arsenal de la vuelta (via rtve)

And you're definetely not supposed to try this against one of the best defenses in the world.

Real Madrid Vs Barcelona (2011) UEFA Champions League 0-2 Lionel Messi amazing (via NNFS100)

I'm a Barcelona fan and have pretty much watched every game they played this year, if they lose the final I think I'll be Emotionally Devastated™, join me and the other winners as we watch the wonderful game of football (it means soccer in Rest of the World speak) and what I hope is not a really shitty final as finals tend to be. It's not like you have anything better to do, and the basketball finals are between Miami and Dallas, so fuck that.

Let's just hope I haven't jinxed Messi and some magic will come out of these hideous boots.

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