Rewards
Both teams received significant financial rewards for reaching the Champions League final. However, despite losing the match, it was Manchester United who earned the most money from their 2008–09 Champions League campaign, receiving €38.281 million compared to Barcelona's €30.968 million. All 32 teams in the group stage of the competition received €3 million for taking part in the competition and €2.4 million for their participation in the group stage matches, as well as further bonuses based on their performances in each match (€600,000 for each win and €300,000 for each draw). For their four wins and one draw, Barcelona received a performance bonus of €2.7 million, while Manchester United earned €2.4 million for their two wins and four draws. Both teams then also received a total of €7.7 million for their participation in the rounds leading up to the final; however, Barcelona received a win bonus of €7 million for winning the final, while Manchester United received €4 million for finishing as runners-up. The biggest difference between the teams' financial rewards came as a result of their share of the market pool, based on the value of the television market in their home countries. As the most successful of the English teams in the competition, Manchester United received the greatest share (€18.781 million) of approximately €55.5 million reserved for the English teams. However, although Barcelona were the most successful of the Spanish teams in the competition, they had finished in third place in La Liga the previous season, and so received the second-smallest share of the €33.8 million given to the four Spanish clubs, taking home €8.168 million.
In addition to receiving almost €31 million in prize money, as winners of the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona competed in the 2009 UEFA Super Cup, in which they beat 2008–09 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk 1–0 at Stade Louis II in Monaco on 28 August 2009, and in the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, where they beat Estudiantes of Argentina in the final.
Read more about this topic: 2009 UEFA Champions League Final
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—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
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