Fletcher can bring down Barcelona

Judging by his teamsheet last night, Sir Alex Ferguson turned his attention to Barcelona long before a shadow Manchester United side finished off Schalke at Old Trafford.

Ferguson has just over three weeks in which to ponder this: what does he have to do to ensure his team are not humiliated again in the manner they were the last time these two sides met in the final, in 2009.

Back then, there were many - me included - who thought United's victory against Arsenal in the semi-final pointed the tactical route to victory. Particularly in the away leg at the Emirates, Ferguson's side had given a masterclass in counter-attacking, breaking at pace to unhinge the Gunners back line. Barcelona proved to be less generous opponents and United were brushed aside with an ease that bordered on the contemptuous. Mind, a best-of combo gleaned from the ranks of Brazil 1970, Milan 1989 and Real Madrid 2002 would have struggled. Some of Barca's possession football that night was so good it was impossible to see how they might be beaten.

But if Ferguson - a student of history - is looking for clues, he could do worse than go back into his own club's past, to the last time United contested a European Cup final at Wembley, when they played Benfica. It was - by all accounts - not a great game 41 years ago. Scrappy, tetchy, nervy, both teams seemed quickly drained by the fierce humidity of a baking hot early summer's evening. But what was notable about United's tactical approach was how it was based around shackling their opponents' best player. Although by then past his peak, Eusebio was still reckoned to be, after Pele, the finest in the world. Pace, power, athleticism: he had it all. Plus a clinical eye for goal. So United's manager Matt Busby assigned Nobby Stiles to do a man-to-man job on the Portuguese with David Sadler doubling up on him when necessary.

Stiles in particular relished the role. He had done precisely that for England in the World Cup semi-final two summers previously. And he set about his work with snarling tenacity, only once letting his opponent out of his sights. Mind, it was a dangerous moment. With five minutes to go and the scores level, Eusebio found himself one-on-one with United's keeper Alec Stepney. Stiles, blinking myopically from the halfway line, could only watch as his rival bore down on goal. Fortunately for Stiles, Eusebio blasted the ball straight at Stepney, who found the ball lodged in his midriff. In a show of considerable sportsmanship, the Portuguese generously applauded the goalie for his effort. A relieved Stiles continued his duties through extra time to help steer United to victory.

It would be a woeful underestimate of a Barcelona team way more elevated than that Benfica to suggest they could be similarly defeated by simply taking one man out of the game. But the fact remains, even if a successful marking job alone cannot guarantee that one of the several other supreme talents of the Barca team will not come to the fore, unless Ferguson can find a way to stop Lionel Messi he has no chance.

Which is why he will have been so relieved to welcome Darren Fletcher back last night. Struck down by a virus, Fletcher has been missing from United's ranks for the past few weeks. In truth, such is the nature of his work, there are not many who noticed he was gone. But Ferguson knows - especially with Owen Hargreaves incapacitated - he has few in his squad as capable of man-marking Messi as Fletcher. Remember the Scotland captain absented himself from such duty last time by getting sent off at the Emirates. And with no one else to take on the job, Messi was allowed to run free, embarrassing United's centre-backs by even having the audacity to score with his head.

Fletcher would dog his every step, harry and hare at him, running him into parts of the pitch where he can no longer act as such an effective conduit to passing movements. Sure, there's still Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and David Villa to worry about. But with Messi diminished, even they would not be able to conjure up the passing patterns with quite the same ease they showed in '09. Fletcher on Messi has to be the start of any tactical planning to subdue the Catalans.

And it also leads to this unexpected conclusion: with this in mind, Darren Fletcher has claim to be reckoned United's most important player ahead of the final. Who would have thought that?