MANCHESTER: Manchester United will face Barcelona in the Champions League final later this month after a weakened side thrashed Schalke 04 4-1 at Old Trafford for an emphatic 6-1 aggregate victory Wednesday. Two second-half goals from Anderson after first-half efforts by Antonio Valencia and Darron Gibson saw United reach their third Champions League final in four seasons and book a date with Barca in the May 28 showpiece at Wembley Stadium. Alex Ferguson, who has now led United to four Champions League finals, made nine changes from last week's first leg with an eye on Sunday's Premier League visit of Chelsea which is likely to go a long way to deciding the English title. Schalke, outclassed and outplayed for long periods, got a consolation through Jose Manuel Jurado after 35 minutes but the game felt more like an exhibition match as United recorded the biggest aggregate win in any Champions League semifinal. The home crowd began chanting “We're going to Wem-ber-ley” midway through the first half when Gibson's inch-perfect long pass found Valencia who steered the ball past keeper Manuel Neuer and into the bottom left corner after 26 minutes. The goal seemed to crush any lingering hope for the visitors and five minutes later they failed to deal with another United surge forward and only got the ball as far as Gibson who cracked a shot that slipped through the usually reliable Neuer's hands. Before the hosts could get too comfortable, though, they lost concentration when Chris Smalling gave a soft ball away in his own half allowing Schalke to mount a rare counter-attack that ended with Jurado's strike high into the net in the 35th. The Schalke fans celebrated as if they were in the lead, lighting red flares high in the stands behind the goal, but the celebrations turned ugly when some fans clashed with stewards before others unfurled a huge “Ultras” banner. However, Anderson's double strike after 72 and 76 minutes put the icing on United's cake as it set up a repeat of the 2009 final, when Barca beat United 2-0 in Rome. Three-time winner United won its first European Cup at Wembley in 1968 as did Barcelona in 1992. “Barcelona play extremely good football, it's going to be difficult,” said United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who is likely to play his last game in the final before retiring. The two giants of club football are each targeting a fourth European title. United has reached three finals in four years, Barcelona three in six. Van der Sar was in the side that produced United's third European title against Chelsea on penalty kicks in 2008 before they were outclassed a year later. “We have to make sure we learned our lesson from (two years ago), be better prepared and deal with them in a different way,” Van der Sar said. “Hopefully it'll be a better outcome.” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was at Old Trafford Wednesday, but few of the players likely to face the Spanish champion at Wembley were in action. Del Piero signs Juve extension Veteran forward Alessandro del Piero Thursday signed a one-year contract extension with Juventus keeping him at the club next season. Del Piero, 36, has been at Juve since 1993, winning five Serie A titles, one Italian Cup and the Champions League in 1996. He also won the 2005 and 2006 titles with the club but they were stripped of those and relegated after being found guilty of match-fixing, allowing del Piero to add the Serie B crown to his collection in 2007. “I'm enjoying myself, I'm happy to be here today as it's what I wanted for next year,” said Del Piero. “It wasn't difficult to reach an agreement because there wasn't much to discuss.” He played 91 times for Italy, scoring 27 goals and was part of the squad that lifted the World Cup in 2006. Del Piero signed his contract in the new Juventus Stadium that will be the club's home from the beginning of next season.
