Manchester: Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar admits the first goal will be crucial against Barcelona in the Champions League final at Wembley on Saturday.
The Dutch shot-stopper will be playing the final competitive match of his career and hopes that he can sign-off with a momentous victory against the Catalans – who defeated United 2-0 in Rome in 2009.
"The key is for us to score the first goal,” Van der Sar told Uefa.com
"We lost a goal in Rome and then it was quite difficult to come back so, if we can, [we hope to] change that."
The 40-year-old believes that plenty of things have changed since the last time the two clubs met.
"We've lost two good players in [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Carlos] Tevez; others came in, we've matured and maybe we changed our way of playing a little bit," he said.
If Manchester United win the Champions League it will be Van der Sar’s third time lifting the trophy after hoisting it in 1995 with Ajax and in 2008 with the Red Devils.
The Dutchman played a pivotal role in Moscow three years ago, saving Nicolas Anelka's penalty in the shootout.
"What sticks out is the penalty save in 2008 against Anelka," Van der Sar continued.
"That won the trophy and you never really win the game as a goalkeeper.
"Normally someone has to score the last penalty so that was a nice feeling and something that would be nice to replicate again."
The goalkeeper feels his side warrant their place in the final and will remember the defeat two years ago going into the game.
He added: “We deserved this – the way that we played this season, especially in the second half, shows we are on the right track and hopefully we will learn from our mistakes in the 2009 final to go one better at Wembley."
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