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Manchester United go into
Wednesday’s Champions League final against Chelsea with the
psychological advantage of having pushed the London club into
runners-up spot in the Premier League.
For the second successive season, United face Chelsea in a
cup final as newly-crowned English champions and they will do
all they can to ensure Chelsea do not mug them again.
Almost exactly a year after Chelsea shattered United’s
domestic double hopes by beating them in the first FA Cup final
at the new Wembley Stadium, England’s top two teams clash for
the far bigger prize of the European Cup.
What a global television audience desperately needs to pray
for though is that the match at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium bears
no relation to last year’s tedious Wembley game in which little
of note happened until Didier Drogba scored the only goal four
minutes from the end of extra time.
Trivia
- Wednesday’s all-English final will be the third
same-country final in the Champions League following the
all-Spanish clash between Real Madrid and Valencia in Paris in
2000, which Real won 3-0, and the all-Italian match between AC
Milan and Juventus in Manchester in 2003 which Milan won 3-2 on
penalties after a 0-0 draw.
- Wednesday’s final will be the 53rd since the competition
started in 1955-56 and England are guaranteed an 11th success,
bringing them level with Italy and Spain as the most successful
countries. They will also win a 29th success in the three
European club competitions, equalling Spain’s record.
- Moscow will be staging the Champions League final for the
first time, nine years after it staged the UEFA Cup final
between Parma and Olympique Marseille which Parma won 3-0.
- United manager Alex Ferguson will become the 16th man to
win the European Cup more than once if United triumph, following
his success in 1999. He would also set a record of winning
longevity in European club competition—he won his first
European trophy, the Cup Winners’ Cup, with Aberdeen in 1983. He will become, at 66, the second-oldest man to win the
trophy if United triumph. The oldest is Belgian Raymond Goethals
who was 71 when Marseille won in 1993.
- Chelsea coach Avram Grant would become the first Israeli,
either as a coach or player, to win the European Cup. Chelsea
defender Tal Ben-Haim would become the first Israeli to be on
the winning team if he plays, which is unlikely.
- Six players in the two squads will be looking to win the
European Cup with a second club. United’s Edwin van der Sar won
it with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995 while Owen Hargreaves won it with
Bayern Munich in 2001.
- Chelsea’s four previous winners are Ricardo Carvalho and
Paulo Ferreira (both Porto 2004), Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan
2003) and Claude Makelele (Real Madrid 2002).
- Ryan Giggs will beat Bobby Charlton’s all-time club
appearance record of 758 matches for United if he plays and
could also win the trophy for a second time. He and Gary Neville
were in United’s winning 1999 team while Wes Brown was a
non-playing substitute. Paul Scholes, who is expected to play on
Wednesday, was suspended in 1999.
- Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand of Manchester United and
Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Phillips of Chelsea
have all played at the Luzhniki Stadium this season for England.
Rooney gave England a first-half lead against Russia in a Euro
2008 qualifier on Oct. 17, but Russia ended 2-1 winners.
- If Chelsea triumph they would be the first club from
London to win the European Cup.
Disciplinary situation ahead of the
Champions League final on Wednesday between Manchester United
and Chelsea at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow:
Suspended: None
Misses next match if booked: None
Yellow cards:
Manchester United:
2 - Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo, Patrice Evra, Owen Hargreaves
Chelsea:
2 - John Terry
Fact :
- Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez scored 57 of United’s
80 league goals between them and have contributed 78 of the
overall total.
- No-one has been as prolific for Chelsea with Frank Lampard
topping their scoring charts this season with 19 goals while
Drogba had a relatively tame season with 15.
- Alex Ferguson has been in charge at United for nearly 22
years and has overseen 151 Champions League matches with them
plus another 12 in the old European Cup with Aberdeen. He has
already won 28 trophies with United and first tasted European
success with Aberdeen 25 years ago.
- Chelsea coach Avram Grant has experience of 15 Champions
League games—11 with Chelsea and two each with Maccabi Tel
Aviv and Maccabi Haifa—and has been in charge of Chelsea only
since taking over from Jose Mourinho last September. He has yet
to win his first trophy with the club.
- Both teams have won every European final they have played in though
this is Manchester United's third appearance in the prime competition
but a first for Chelsea.
- Manchester United have not played a fellow English team in European
competition for more than 40 years. The last such tie was against Everton in the third round of the Fairs Cup in 1964-65, United winning 3-2 on aggregate.
- United have never scored in the first half of a final. Five of their
eight goals in previous finals came in the second half, including,
famously, two in time added on to beat Bayern in 1999, and three came
in extra time against Benfica in 1968.
- Chelsea have never fallen behind in a final. They went ahead in both of
their 1971 games against Real Madrid and scored the only goal against
Stuttgart in 1998.
- United have not conceded a goal in their last five Champions League matches. It is 486 minutes since Karim Benzema gave Olympique Lyon the lead in the first leg of the knockout round on February 20 in France.
- United have kept clean sheets in eight of their 12 Champions League games this season. Chelsea have kept seven.
- The two teams will end the season as they started it back in August --
playing against each other. They met in the Community Shield
curtain-raiser at Wembley Stadium on August 5 when United won 3-0 on
penalties after a 1-1 draw.
- Much has been made of the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo has never scored in nine games against Chelsea, but team-mate Wayne Rooney has netted just once in 10 appearances against the Blues and Didier Drogba's cup final winner last season is his only strike against Alex Ferguson's men in nine appearances.
Man Utd vs Chelsea head to head stats:
| Last 5 Man Utd matches: |
| 11.05.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Wigan-Man Utd |
0:2 |
| 03.05.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd-West Ham |
4:1 |
| 29.04.2008 |
CL |
Man Utd-Barcelona |
1:0 |
| 26.04.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Chelsea-Man Utd |
2:1 |
| 23.04.2008 |
CL |
Barcelona-Man Utd |
0:0 |
| Last 5 Chelsea matches: |
| 11.05.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Chelsea - Bolton |
1:1 |
| 05.05.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Newcastle - Chelsea |
0:2 |
| 30.04.2008 |
CL |
Chelsea - Liverpool |
1:1 |
| 26.04.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Chelsea - Man Utd |
2:1 |
| 22.04.2008 |
CL |
Liverpool - Chelsea |
1:1 |
| Last 5 Man Utd home matches: |
| 03.05.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd-West Ham |
4:1 |
| 29.04.2008 |
CL |
Man Utd-Barcelona |
1:0 |
| 13.04.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd-Arsenal |
2:1 |
| 09.04.2008 |
CL |
Man Utd-Roma |
1:0 |
| 29.03.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd-Aston Villa |
4:0 |
| Last 5 Chelsea away matches: |
| 05.05.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Newcastle - Chelsea |
0:2 |
| 22.04.2008 |
CL |
Liverpool - Chelsea |
1:1 |
| 17.04.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Everton - Chelsea |
0:1 |
| 05.04.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Man. City - Chelsea |
0:2 |
| 02.04.2008 |
CL |
Fenerbahce - Chelsea |
2:1 |
| Man Utd vs Chelsea head to head stats: |
| 2006/2007 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
1:1 |
| 2005/2006 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
1:0 |
| 2004/2005 |
ENG LC |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
1:2 |
| 2004/2005 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
1:3 |
| 2003/2004 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
1:1 |
| 2002/2003 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
2:1 |
| 2001/2002 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
0:3 |
| 2000/2001 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
3:3 |
| This Season Man Utd vs Chelsea head to head stats: |
| 26.04.2008 |
ENG 1 |
Chelsea - Man Utd |
2:1 |
| 23.09.2007 |
ENG 1 |
Man Utd - Chelsea |
2:0 |
| 05.08.2007 |
ENG SC |
Chelsea - Man Utd |
1:1 |
Head-to-head
Europe: no matches
Domestic: (League, FA Cup and League Cup): Played: 147 - Wins: Manchester United 65, Chelsea 40, Draws 42
Previous European finals
Manchester United: Played 3 Won 3
May 29 1968 European Cup v Benfica 4-1 (aet) in London
May 15 1991 Cup Winners Cup v Barcelona 2-1 in Rotterdam
May 26 1999 Champions League v Bayern Munich 2-1 in Barcelona
Chelsea : Played 2 Won 2
May 21 1971 Cup Winners Cup v Real Madrid 2-1 in Athens (after 1-1 draw aet in Athens on May 19)
May 13 1998 Cup Winners Cup v VfB Stuttgart 1-0 in Stockholm
Champions League record this season:
Manchester United - Played 12, Won 9, Drawn 3, Lost 0, Goals for 19, Against 5
Chelsea - Played 12, Won 6, Drawn 5, Lost 1, Goals for 19, Against 7
Leading CL 07-08 scorers:
Manchester United - Cristiano Ronaldo 7, Wayne Rooney 4, Carlos Tevez 4, Gerard Pique 2
Chelsea - Didier Drogba 6, Frank Lampard 3, Michael Ballack 2, Joe Cole 2
Possible teams:
Manchester United: 1-Edwin Van der Sar; 6-Wes Brown, 5-Rio
Ferdinand, 15-Nemanja Vidic, 3-Patrice Evra; 7-Cristiano
Ronaldo, 18-Paul Scholes, 16-Michael Carrick, 13-Ji-Sung Park;
10-Wayne Rooney, 32-Carlos Tevez
Chelsea: 1-Petr Cech; 4-Michael Essien, 26-John Terry,
6-Ricardo Carvalho, 3-Ashley Cole; 10-Joe Cole, 13-Michael
Ballack, 4-Claude Makelele, 8-Frank Lampard; 11-Didier Drogba,
21-Salomon Kalou
referee Lubos Michel (Slovakia)
assistant referees : Roman
Slysko, Martin Balko , Vladimir Hrinak
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Tournament 
