Park makes history, but United off song in Rome

South Korea’s Park Ji-Sung became the first Asian footballer to contest a Champions League final on Wednesday, but was powerless to prevent his Manchester United side going down 2-0 to Barcelona.

The 28-year-old made history by starting on the right wing with Wayne Rooney on the other flank and United star Cristiano Ronaldo as the lone striker, but was switched to the left flank just before half-time with Barcelona 1-0 ahead.

He worked tirelessly against Barcelona captain Carles Puyol, who gave his South Korean opponent few chances while Samuel Eto’o put the Spanish ahead on 10 minutes.

Park made way for Dimitar Berbatov in the 66th minute just before Argentina’s Lionel Messi scored Barcelona’s decisive second.

With the p;layer having a reputation for covering every blade of grass and a tireless engine, United coach Sir Alex Ferguson had earlier said the decision to leave Park out of last year’s Moscow final had not been easy.

“There was a terrible disappointment that we didn’t include him in last years squad,” admitted the 67-year-old Scot.

“He has something which even (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi don’t.

“He works tirelessly, he doesn’t need the ball – he has fantastic awareness of space and timing and gets into the right place at the right time.”

Park’s appearance in a Champions League final is sure to send his profile into orbit back home, despite United’s defeat.

While his compatriot Cha Bum-Kun won the UEFA Cup with Eintracht Frankfurt in 1980 and then with Bayer Leverkusen in 1988, Park is the first Asian footballer to play at the top-tier of European domestic football.

His every move is scrutinised in his native South Korea and he is mobbed on the streets of Seoul where he is a pin-up, yet is able to walk through Manchester’s streets relatively unbothered.

Even his team-mates know very little about the shy Korean whose father took a job in a butchers shop after Park declared at an early age he wanted to be a professional footballer so his son had the right nutrition to fulfil his dream.

Despite all the meat he could eat, Park’s diminutive frame hindered his ambition until he earned a place at the Myung Ji University in Seoul.

After playing for his country at Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games, he was instrumental in helping South Korea reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2002.

Dutch coach Guus Hiddink masterminded the success and took Park to Holland’s PSV Eindhoven where he recovered after struggling initally to catch Sir Alex’s attention and earn a £4 million (6.4m US dollars) move to United in 2005.

Almost four years on, no one is questioning United?s motives behind buying Park, whose arrival compensated for the loss of Beckham to Real Madrid in 2003.

Since their launch in February 2006, United have sold 380,000 credit and debit cards in Britain, which compares with a staggering 1.2 million in South Korea.

With Park in their ranks, United are laughing all the way to the bank, despite the glum faces from Manchester fans in Rome on Wednesday.