Park 1st Asian to Play in CL Final

Park Ji-sung of Manchester United became the first Asian footballer to play in a Champions League final early Thursday morning (Seoul time).

The South Korean midfielder played relatively well but was substituted in the second half as his team went down 2-0 to Barcelona.

Although he missed out on last year's final win over Chelsea, Park, 28, started on the right of midfield at the Stadio Olimpico with Wayne Rooney on the left and Cristiano Ronaldo playing the lone striking role.

His tireless display in the semifinal second-leg defeat of Arsenal, which he capped with a goal, put Park in the driving seat for a place on Sir Alex Ferguson's starting team sheet, but there was no repeat heroics against a slick-passing Barcelona side on a muggy night in the Eternal City, according to Monsters and Critics.com, the sports Web site.

United started brightly but were on the back foot from the 10th minute onwards after Samuel Eto'o put Barca in front after cutting in from the left, wrong-footing Nemanja Vidic and dispatching the ball past Edwin van der Sar in the United goal.

With Barcelona dominating possession and United chasing the game, Park failed to show the consistency and drive that saw him make 25 league appearances in United's run to a third English Premier League title in succession.

Instead, he could count himself lucky that it was Anderson who was hauled ashore at half-time to be replaced by Carlos Tevez while Park switched flanks with Rooney.

However, the man from Seoul, whose energy, workrate and awareness of space was meant to create room for Ronaldo and Rooney to perform, was unable to get to grips with the irrepressible Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta in the Barca midfield.

According to Monsters and Critics.com, Park nearly had an opportunity to put United back on level terms on 56 minutes but he just failed to get his head to Rooney's cross and 10 minutes later his inevitable substitution took place as he was replaced by Dimitar Berbatov as Ferguson went with four up front.

Four minutes later Lionel Messi struck to secure Barcelona's third title and to leave Park and Asia still waiting for a first Champions League winner's medal.