Worth reading. Sums it all up for me
Onus is on Fergie to make the final one to remember
Last updated at 23:08pm on 12.05.08
The last time Manchester United and Chelsea faced one another in a showpiece final, the eagerly anticipated contest proved to be a marvellous advertisement for sport. Unfortunately, the sport in question was cricket.
The two great powerhouses of the modern English club scene served up a game so stultifyingly bad that grown men, some of them single, elected to drag themselves off the sofa and drive to IKEA to wait in line for a flat-packed bookcase rather than endure the tedium of extra-time.
No sooner had United edged Chelsea out in this year's title race, with the scent of stale champagne still in the air, the focus switched to the contest in Moscow where the two will renew their rivalry in the Champions League Final.
Don't forget to mark it down in the diary. May 21. Kick-off 7.45pm. Dinner reservation at local restaurant 7.50pm. Book taxi to be back for inevitable penalty shoot-out at 9.35pm. It's an option worth considering for the neutral.
While United can be entertaining and Chelsea compellingly effective, these two tend to cancel one another out in head-to-head encounters as effectively as divorce lawyers.
However, this time 60,000 English fans are risking personal safety and bank accounts travelling to Russia to witness it. And the world will be looking on to see if the Premier League really does live up to its billing as the most exciting spectacle there is (copyright courtesy of all satellite stations).
For that reason, the naïve romantic in me hopes that Sir Alex Ferguson and Avram Grant hold a pre-game summit in a quiet room. Here the two friends can shake hands, set aside the usual rancour, and agree instead to serve up a football feast rather than the overpriced, overhyped offerings we've had in the past.
"Come on Avram, this isn't about you or me," Ferguson would say, pouring out another glass of red. "It's not even about our crubs. It's about the game. Let's show the world what we've got."
After finally working out what Ferguson meant by 'crubs', Grant would pull his features into an uncharacteristic smile, a struggle that takes many minutes.
"You're right, Alex," he would reply in that Voice of the Mysterons monotone. "They say I am boring and that Chelsea lack excitement, but I don't care about the faxes Mr Abramovich sends me. This is my chance to be an entertainer. Let's do it!' he would mumble as enthusiastically as he could.
What a treat it would be if the teams traded blows during the match instead of in the post-game warm-down.
Picture a match where Chelsea's tactics proved more profound than hoisting it up to Didier Drogba and then waiting for him to collapse. A night when Cristiano Ronaldo realised it was his chance to go down in history, rather than just go down flapping his arms in outrage whenever brushed by a gust of wind. It could happen, you know.
"We play the right way," is Ferguson's unequivocal and justified boast. United certainly do try to attack with verve and flair, an attitude that not only makes them an irresistible force when they are in form, but pure box office, too, which is the model Abramovich aspires to.
In contrast, Grant was reduced to pleading that teams finishing level on points at the top should hold a play-off to decide the League champions, instead of counting goal difference.
In the end it didn't matter, but you can't blame the man for trying. After all, he has marshalled a team into second place that not only scored fewer goals than Arsenal, Liverpool and Villa but also one fewer than a Tottenham side languishing in 11th place.
It's not exactly the hallmark of entertainers. But it does demonstrate Chelsea can extract maximum gain from any sparse opportunity; that is why they are so dangerous. But if this final is to be memorable, the onus is on United to throw off the shackles and attack.
When Ferguson sent his team out at Stamford Bridge recently they looked uncharacteristically hesitant and unsure of one another, and in this self-induced state of half-paralysis, they lost.
Over two legs against Barcelona, they were almost as timid and there was an inescapable feeling they barely got away with it courtesy of some slack Spanish finishing.
They can afford to be bolder in this season's last hurrah. Ferguson has said that winning the European Cup might mark this side out as his best ever. A thrilling Moscow show might make the claim sound much more convincing.
United might have proved they are the best team in the country, but now they must trust to their instincts and be brave on the biggest stage of all. If Ferguson tries try to lock horns with Chelsea in the usual muscular battle, then the second best team in the league could easily be crowned the best in Europe.
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