We should’ve faced each other in 2 consecutive CL finals, not sure if it had ever happened before, even including pre-CL years. Barca was a better team than we were in 2008/09 and probably, on paper, better than Chelsea but Chelsea should’ve gone through instead of them in 08/09.
I absolutely dreaded every game against them at the time, it always felt like Mou had Fergie’s number. It got a bit better after he got sacked, but not by that much. Historically we have a slight advantage — not only because of the trophies, but because we had Cristiano, who was probably the X-factor that made the difference in a very tight race. A combined XI would be a fun exercise — but it would be a coin-toss in so many areas like between, say, Rio/Vidic and Terry/Carvalho & Cole and Evra...