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Chelsea to face Manchester United in Champions League final
Thursday, May 01, 2008
By Robert Millward, AP Soccer Writer
LONDON - How perfect for Chelsea's billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich that his club's first Champions League final will be played in Moscow.
In the first European Cup final between two English clubs, beating Manchester United to win the title will make it even more special.
Abramovich wasn't at Stamford Bridge to see his expensively assembled team beat Liverpool 3-2 in extra time to advance to the final on May 21, but United manager Alex Ferguson was.
United and Chelsea are also neck-and-neck in the Premier League. The Blues beat the Red Devils 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to draw level on points with United, which leads on goal difference with two games to go.
'An all-English final. I think everyone's looking forward to it,' Chelsea captain John Terry said. 'They have been very good in the league. Also we matched them the other week and managed to beat them here. All in all, they're playing very well. I think we're at the top of our game so in three weeks time it's going to be a very tough game.'
Although it's the first time two English teams have made it to the final, don't look for an English coach.
The last Englishman to lead a team to a European Cup triumph was Liverpool's Joe Fagan in 1984. That was at a time when English coaches did well in the competition with seven triumphs in eight seasons, including wins from Liverpool's Bob Paisley (three), Nottingham Forest's Brian Clough (two), Aston Villa's Tony Barton and Fagan between 1977 and '84.
United has had the veteran Ferguson in charge for 22 years, and the Scot has led the Red Devils to nine Premier League triumphs and five FA Cups and is now chasing his second Champions League win to go with the one he won in 1999.
Avram Grant is the former coach of Israel who has led Chelsea to its first Champions League final after the man he replaced, Jose Mourinho, failed three times. Mourinho moved to the Blues in June 2004, a month after leading FC Porto to a triumph in the competition.
Although he won two league titles in a row, Chelsea's first in half a century, Mourinho couldn't capture a European success and the club replaced him in September.
The fact that two English teams are playing each other thousands of miles away in Moscow for a major prize is good timing.
In early February, the Premier League was lambasted by FIFA, leading club managers and fan groups for announcing plans to play domestic matches in South Korea, Japan, the United States and the Middle East and was forced into a rethink.
By contrast, there was even speculation that the clubs would apply to UEFA to move the Champions League final to Wembley if two English teams made it.
While the stadium in Moscow may be an unknown to both sets of players, they know each other's style of play so well it shouldn't matter.
Chelsea knows all about Cristiano Ronaldo's dribbling and shooting skills and how to stop him from adding to his 38 league and cup goals this season. It also has to break open the solid defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.
Because it played Chelsea on Saturday, United is aware of the dangers posed by Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Michael Ballack and the defensive strengths of Terry and Ricardo Carvalho.
Manchester United has a 65-41 record against Chelsea with 44 draws. But the last time they met in a final, Chelsea edged United 1-0 in last season's FA Cup at Wembley.
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