Good, but lucky

Good refereeing

The amiable Swiss referee did well in this match, and got the majority of decisions correct. He denied Barcelona a penalty early in the second half when Messi claimed O'Shea brought him down, but Busacca was having none of it and quite rightly so. He also played a good advantage after a poor challenge from Scholes, and then went back to correctly book the United man. Vidic also deservedly went into the book.

A couple of questionable ones

Ronaldo was booked after a legitimate shoulder charge. However, the heat of the game was rising and Ronaldo had been loosing his cool just a touch, so in the context it was justifiable. The other debatable call came after 15 minutes when Pique cynically brought down Ronaldo when he had a good chance on goal. Busacca gave a yellow card. Many other referees would have brought out the red for a professional foul. Was Busacca trying to avoid controversy?

Lucky

Towards the end United started to get a bit frustrated, and Barcelona tried to wind them up. Perhaps he could have been more proactive and stepped in more emphatically. He might have struggled to keep control if it had hotted up any more.

Very Impressive

Busacca displayed outstanding fitness, keeping up with rapid play. His reading of the game was good, and he was always either close to the play or square-on allowing him to make correct decisions, and to do so with authority. After the controversies in the semi-finals he was under immense pressure and did exceptionally, having a great rapport with the players and allowing play to flow. While I am not a massive fan of his avuncular good will style of refereeing, and would prefer a more dominant referee like Collina or Fandel, he does use his style very well and it works for him. He did justice to the match and contributed positively to it. Well done Massimo, you can be proud.