> Ucl Final-man Utd. V/s Chelsea

Originally Posted by AmbarD

Oh my god.Are there any people that support any team except Manchester here...

MOSCOW - Chelsea and Manchester United have been warned that the Luzhniki Stadium pitch is dangerous and not fit to host the final of the Champions League. Groundsmen are working around the clock to improve the playing surface, which was slammed by former Liverpool midfielder Steve McMahon.
The pitch has several bare patches and is very bumpy. Blocks of frozen grass shipped in from Slovakia have not bedded down as hoped and the state of the surface is giving real cause for concern.
Wednesday's match between Manchester United and Chelsea is at the same stadium where England played their Euro 2008 qualifier against Russia on an artificial pitch last year.
English head groundsman Matthew Frost said: "It is not like one of the better Premier League pitches, far from it.
"Unfortunately, things didn't work out. The ball may not travel perfectly like it would on a pitch that has been in situ for some time. There might be a bit of a bobble."
But McMahon was more scathing in his assessment of the pitch, claiming it would be "dangerous" for the players.
"It is awful and embarrassing," he said. "There are undulations and, to be frank, it is very dangerous for the players if it stays the way it is. The players won't be happy."
Meanwhile, the referee for Wednesday game is the man who awarded a controversial and decisive goal against Chelsea in their 2005 Champions League semi-final second leg at Liverpool.
Slovakian Lubos Michel was criticised by former Blues boss Jose Mourinho after he ruled that Luis Garcia's shot had crossed the line in front of the Kop at Anfield.
The linesman who signalled to Michel that it was goal, fellow countryman Roman Slysko, is again one of his assistants, along with Martin Balko.
Mourinho called Garcia's strike "a goal from the moon" and insisted it never crossed the line, an opinion supported by television replays.
Michel, 40, has been in charge of one Chelsea Champions League match since that controversial moment, when he officiated their 1-0 group phase defeat to Werder Bremen.

* Liverpool's 8–0 victory over Beşiktaş at Anfield on 6 November 2007 became the highest scoring win (excluding qualifying or preliminary rounds) in the Champions League era.
* Filippo Inzaghi surpassed Gerd Müller as the all-time highest scorer in European competitions when he scored his 63rd European club competition goal, in Milan's 1–0 victory over Celtic on 4 December 2007. He is also currently the highest-scoring Italian player in the history of European competition, having scored 34 of his 63 European competition goals for Milan.
* Lazio goalkeeper Marco Ballotta became the oldest player to ever play in the Champions League when he was fielded in the match against Real Madrid on 11 December 2007. Aged 43, he was three years older than the previous record owner, Alessandro Costacurta, who was 40 when he played for Milan against AEK Athens in November 2006.
* Dynamo Kyiv failed to gain a single point in Group F, becoming the seventh side to finish the first group stages with zero points earned since the format change of the European Cup in 1992. The other teams to finish with zero points were: Košice (1997-98), Fenerbahçe (2001-02), Spartak Moscow (2002-03), Anderlecht (2004-05), Rapid Wien (2005-06), and Levski Sofia (2006-07).
* Fenerbahçe reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the first time in their history. They are the second Turkish side to qualify for the quarter-finals in the Champions League era, the other being Galatasaray in 2000-01.
* Schalke 04 qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the first time since 1958-59.
* For the fourth consecutive year, the defending champions were eliminated in the first knockout round. Since the implementation of the 16-team knockout stage in the 2003-04 season, Milan, in 2003-04, were the only defending champion to make it out of the first knockout round, as they lost in the quarter-finals that year.
* Sevilla's penalty defeat to Fenerbahçe in the first knockout round marked the first time they had been knocked out of a European tournament since 2004-05.
* Milan's 0–2 loss to Arsenal in the second leg of the first knockout round was the club's first ever defeat to English opposition at the San Siro.
* The elimination of Milan by Arsenal means that no club has successfully defended their title in the Champions League era as yet.
* Manchester United's victory over Roma in the second leg of the quarter-finals was their eleventh successive home win, surpassing Juventus' record of ten that was set between the 1995-96 and 1997-98 seasons – they subsequently extended the run of home victories to twelve with a 1–0 defeat of Barcelona in the semi-finals.
* Bojan Krkić was the first ever scorer in the Champions League to have been born in the 1990s, when he scored the only goal in Barcelona's 1–0 quarter-final first leg win against Schalke 04. He is also the second youngest scorer in the Champions League behind Ghanaian forward Peter Ofori-Quaye, then-playing for Olympiacos.[4]
* 2007–08 marks the first season in the competition's history that four teams from the same country have reached the quarter-final stage, following the progression of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United into the final stages.
* Liverpool and Arsenal played each other three times in a week in April 2008; they first played each other in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on 2 April, before a league game on 5 April, both at the Emirates Stadium. The teams then moved up to Liverpool to play the Champions League quarter-final second leg.
* Liverpool and Chelsea played each other in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the third time in four years (the other two matchups occured during the 2004-05 and 2006-07 seasons). It is also the fourth time in four years that the two teams have been drawn together in the Champions League, including the group stage in 2005-06.
* The same three English sides (Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) played in the semi-finals for the second season in a row. The only team that was not in the previous season's semi-finals was Barcelona. This semi-final line-up meant that there would be an English team in the final for the fourth season in a row.
* The final between Chelsea and Manchester United is the first all-English final in the history of the European Cup and the third final between two teams from the same country. The others were in 2000 and 2003.
* Chelsea reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history.
* Coincidentally, while two English teams (Manchester United and Chelsea) will be contesting the Champions League final in Moscow, Russia, a Russian team (Zenit St. Petersburg) will be contesting the UEFA Cup final in Manchester, England. Also, Chelsea FC is owned by a Russian.
* For the first time in Champions League history, none of the English teams were eliminated by a non-English team. Arsenal were eliminated by Liverpool, who were eliminated by Chelsea, who will now face Manchester United in the final.

Manchester United Watch
Visit Red Rants for the latest news and discussions on the Champions League final and other Manchester United news.
Rooney will kill himself to be fit for this game, so expect him to play.
A Champions League final, especially the club’s first in 9 years, is no place for emotion or goodbyes. Still, Giggs and Scholes have little value as impact players and one of them will probably start seeing that Fergie will probably play a 4-5-1/4-3-3 with Rooney on the left and 3 central midfielders (Carrick is the only certain starter IMO) to match Chelsea’s physical strength down the middle.
Potential starting lineup: EVDS, Brown, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez
I’d rather see Anderson there instead of Scholes (based purely on his energy levels and the fact that both Carrick and Hargreaves can be creative outlets if given that role), but Scholes gives United a better option in terms of goal-scoring / goal-creating opportunities than Anderson, and I’m pretty sure this game will have both managers looking to score as opposed to sitting back and waiting for mistakes.
Chelsea Watch
John Terry and Didier Drogba, like Rooney, would walk through walls to play in the Champions League final and you can expect both of them to be fit barring a serious problem. Both players are central to Chelsea’s chances of success against United here and their presence will be a psychological and physical bonus for their teammates. Carvalho should be back as well.
Other than that, the Coles, Ballack, Lampard, Essien and Cech would also start, leaving only the right-back (if Essien takes up a midfield berth) and the second striker / winger position up for grabs, and I’d put that to either Kalou or Malouda.
Make of the Chelsea side what you will, but I don’t think Bosingwa is the answer Chelsea are looking for at right-back. He might do an Evra / Vidic and surprise everyone, but what are the odds?
Regardless of what happened in the league, Chelsea go into the Champions League final as slight favourites, if only because of their superiority in central midfield, and I’d expect Grant to capitalise on that.
Predictions
If there was ever a time for United’s star kids (Ronaldo and Rooney, I’m looking at you) to stand up and answer their critics, this is it.
No predictions though - Chelsea or Manchester United, just keep in mind that it’s been a good season for both clubs.

Fears of violence in Moscow before the Champions League final have escalated after UEFA confirmed that there will be no ban on the sale of alcohol to prevent fans drinking heavily before the 10.45pm kick-off. Furthermore, it has emerged that there will be alcohol on sale in the stadium complex itself.

The late kick-off is needed to synchronise the game with western European viewing schedules but means fans will have three more hours of drinking time than usual.


Marc Bennetts, who works for the Russian News agency Ria Novosti and is an expert on Russian football hooliganism, fears the Moscow authorities may be underestimating the situation, with more than 40,000 English fans descending on the capital.
"There is going to be a mass invasion of English fans and for the first time in history Moscow will be taken over by an English army," said Bennetts, whose book Football Dynamo is published by Virgin the week before the final. "The late kick-off could be a real problem because I'm not sure the Russians quite understand the way the English supporters will be drinking. And if it all kicks off, alcohol will be involved."
That is, of course, if they can get there. The Sunday Telegraph understands that visas for entry to Russia will not be waived for English fans, just that the process will be simplified for those travelling with the official club groups on chartered flights.
Reports that a valid ticket would serve as a visa are unfounded. The Russian authorities will announce their final decision on visa requirements today or tomorrow.
The tension in post-Litvinenko Anglo-Russian relations has complicated the situation and the Russian consul has pointed out that it will be harder for Zenit St Petersburg supporters to travel to Manchester for the UEFA Cup final the week before. Zenit's away support will be prevented from travelling in numbers by the visa complications.
Policing 10,000 Russians in Manchester should be straightforward, but the same cannot be said for the numbers landing in Moscow. The idea of instituting an alcohol ban, such as has been operated in Rome and Milan before targeted Champions League games, was greeted with bemusement by Russian officials. "You can't stop alcohol in Russia," Bennetts said. The widespread availability of alcohol in supermarkets and the high cost of alcohol in bars means fans are likely to descend on city centre squares to drink.
This could prove disastrous. The Moscow Duma made drinking in public illegal in May of last year and while these rules are not strictly enforced, the police may use it as an opportunity to drive fans off Red Square and other public places.
"Russians are not used to this kind of mass display of public boozing," Bennetts said. "Yes, Russians are known for drinking but there is not this culture of mass, city centre drunken disorder. Their general stereotype of the English is almost something from Jeeves and Wooster, not the lager louts and football hooligans. It could be a real culture clash."
If violence erupts in the streets, the Russians will deploy the Omon special units. "Omon are quite well trained and are used for dealing with terrorists," Bennetts said. "They're usually quite restrained. They're the Russian police elite, the equivalent of SWAT teams. There is no messing with those guys." The head of the Russian militia, Vyasheslav Kozlov, insists that everything is in hand and that the two sets of supporters will be kept apart. "We have already done the necessary work to safely host the final," he said. "We have worked out the routes for teams and visitors.
"Representatives of UEFA have already come many times to Moscow in order to check the readiness of the city to host a football match of such a level and readiness of the Moscow militia to provide safety for this action. The checks have shown that readiness."
While attention has largely focused on the build-up to the game, problems could be exacerbated after the final whistle. If the game goes to extra time fans will be emerging from the Luzhniki Stadium after 2am. "It is going to be chaos because there's nowhere for them to stay," Bennetts said. "There is no way they will be allowed to just camp out in the street or in the train stations. I mean a Russian train station at 3 or 4am looks like one of the circles of hell from Dante. The people stumbling round at that time are like zombies."
English fans will be greeted by a groundswell of goodwill from the people of Moscow, who are excited about hosting such a big event. However, there are hooligan elements that will be eager to test themselves against the English fans they have modelled themselves on.
When England fans travelled to the Luzhniki for the Euro 2008 qualifier with Russia in October, five fans were hospitalised in fights with local hooligans but none of this was organised violence. However, in October there were only 4,000 fans in the city and this time there will be more than 10 times as many, divided along partisan lines.