The advantage to be Champions League Finalist

Champions League final is the climax of the battles between the best clubs in Europe. This is the most prestige event on earth. All football players want to take part of this event and show their skills in the final. No doubt, the Champions League Final is the road to be the best player in Europe. Kaka is the living proof. After his success with AC Milan in Champions League, Kaka got the title as the best player in Europe or even the world. He was also a top scorer last season with 10 goals.

Succeed in the final will give added value to the player. Deco from Porto got a contract from Barcelona with a price tag 18 millions Euro. Porto must pay the price to be a champion in Champions League. Porto must loose their stars like Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira who moved to Chelsea. The same thing happened to Ajax who lose their player like Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf and Nwanko Kanu. The club cannot hold the offers from many big clubs who wants five stars players.

However, the club also receives tremendous value being in the final round. Last year, AC Milan received 39.9 millions Euro. The champion will also receive a ticket to play in next year Champions League. Even though, the club can only play until first round, the club already receive 5.5 up to 18 millions Euro.

How about the coach? If a coach can bring his team to the final, it is guarantee he can get a great future in football. Marcello Lippi for example who brought Juventus to be a champion, he signed a contract with Inter Milan right after that.

Final Score in Champions Leagues Final

1992/1993 - Marseille (Fra) v AC Milan (Ita) 1-0
1993/1994 - AC Milan (Ita) v Barcelona (Spa) 4-0
1994/1995 - Ajax (Net) v AC Milan (Ita) 1-0
1995/1996 - Juventus (Ita) v Ajax (Net) 1-1 (4-2)
1996/1997 - B Dortmund (Ger) v Juventus (Ita) 3-1
1997/1998 - Real Madrid (Spa) v Juventus (Ita) 1-0
1998/1999 - M United (Eng) v B Munchen (Ger) 2-1
1999/2000 - Real Madrid (Spa) v Valencia (Spa) 3-0
2000/2001 - B Munchen (Ger) v Valencia (Spa) 1-1 (5-4)
2001/2002 - Real Madrid (Spa) v Bayer L (Ger) 2-1
2002/2003 - AC Milan (Ita) v Juventus (Ita) 0-0 (3-2)
2003/2004 - Porto (Por) v Monaco (Fra) 3-0
2004/2005 - Liverpool (Eng) v AC Milan (Ita) 3-3 (3-2)
2005/2006 - Barcelona (Spa) v Arsenal (Eng) 2-1
2006/2007 - AC Milan (Ita) v Liverpool (Eng) 2-1
2007/2008 - M United (Eng) v Chelsea (Eng) 1-1 (6-5)

Manchester United WINS

Manchester United wins with aggregate score 6-5 from penalty kicks.

This is the climax of the battle between Manchester United and Chelsea this season. Both teams played very hard until the last minute. Big pressure was in Manchester United when Ronaldo as the third kick missed the penalty. The shot from Ronaldo can be tackled by Petr Cech. Chelsea had a great chance to win until the fifth kick from Terry missed the net. The pressure was in Chelsea after the seventh kicker, Giggs, put the ball behind the net. Anelka took all the pressure by being the seventh kicker. He must make a goal. Unfortunately for Chelsea, the shot from Anelka blocked by Van de Sar.

The weather was very cold in Moscow, temperature was around 11 degrees celcius, but the game was going very hot. Yellow cards were given to Makelele and Michael Ballack for Chelsea side. While for Manchester United, Scholes, Carlos Tevez and Rio Ferdinand got the card.

Accident was also unavoidable during the game. Scholes were bleeding from his nose after being body contact with Makelele. Didier Drogba slapped the face of Nemanja Vidic. For his action, Drogba received a red card in return. By doing this mistake, Drogba has changed the entire scenario for penalty takers. Avram Grant already made a list who will be penalty takers and Drogba was the fifth kicker. Because of the red card, Terry replaced his position and failed to finish the job. The situation might be different without the red card.

Penalty Takers from Manchester United:
Tevez, Carrick, Ronaldo (missed), Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Giggs

Penalty Takers from Chelsea:
Ballack, Belleti, Lampard, Ashley Cole, Terry (missed), Kalou, Anelka (missed)


(*) Picture courtesy of Reuters

Park Ji Sung the first Asian player goes to Champions League Final

Par Ji Sung recruited by PSV Eindhoven in 2003 and played there for two seasons. His best performance was only semifinal Champions League 2005. Starting 2005, Park joined his new team Manchester United. He dreamed to play in European final. And his dream just come true. He is now being the first Asian player who can play in the final round along with the greatest team Manchester United.
Park is an important element for the success of Manchester United to reach the final. Park was playing as first starter by Sir Alex Ferguson since semifinal

(*) Picture courtesy of UEFA

David Beckham supports Manchester United

It has been five years since David Beckham left Old Trafford, but he still has a good memory with the club who gave him a lot of titles including the trophy of Champions League in 1999. Even though, he cannot come to Moscow, the ex captain of Red Devils said he will watch his old team play from television at home. David Beckham who collected six titles of Premier Leagues together with Manchester United has a believe that the squad of Sir Alex Ferguson can win any trophy. Especially, the spirit to win is the tradition in Manchester United

Rooney is back

The physical condition of Manchester United is better then Chelsea. After Wayne Rooney and the defender Nemanja Vidic are back from the injury, the United players are all in good condition.

The condition of Chelsea is not as good as United. The Blues have two players injured. Drogba had problem with his knee and Terry, the captain, had dislocation on his arm. The latest news, Drogba is back and able to play in the final, but not for Terry. He is not 100% fit and may not be able to play full time

(*) Picture courtesy of Empics

Man of the Match

Beside the trophy for the team who won the match, there is also a title Man of The Match for a chosen player. UEFA will choose the player from a forum panel and announce it right after the final match is over. The members of the panel are coaches from a few club. The head of the panel will be Technical Director of UEFA, Andy Roxburgh.

Usually, the player will be chosen based on his performance and the importance of his contribution to the team. That's why, Man of the Match will be chosen from the player who win the champions league. Last year, UEFA chose Filipo Inzaghi when he made AC Milan a champion after beaten Liverpool 2-1 in Athena. He contributed 2 goals at that time. Two year ago, Samuel Eto'o was the Man of the Match when this Cameroon striker made an opening goal for Barcelona and beaten Arsenal 2-1 in Paris.

It is not a requirement for Man of the match to make a goal. The goalkeeper Bayern Munchen Oliver Khan was Man of the Match in 2001 because of his great performance during penalty against Valencia in Milan.

So all players will have a chance to receive Man of the Match. Manchester United has a few names come up for Man of the Match like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, or Rio Ferdinand. From Chelsea, we can get the names like Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Ballack or Didier Drogba. Who's the man of the match of this season? Wait for the final whistle of the final round

(*) Picture courtesy of Getty Images

Do you know?

Luzhniki is the biggest stadium in Russia with capacity of 84,745 seats and has been added into the list of 5 stars stadium by UEFA

Luzhniki used to be a host for Olympic 1980 that attended by 103 thousands audience

Big incident happened in Luzhniki stadium in Oct 20th, 1982 when Spartak Moskow against HFC Haarlem. 66 people reported died when rushing to the entrance

This stadium is used as home base of Torpedo Moskow and Spartak Moskow

Ronaldo stays in Old Trafford

Ronaldo finally makes a statement regarding the news in media that he will leave from Old Trafford. Cristiano Ronaldo will stay in Old Trafford as long as Alex Ferguson is still being the boss in Manchester United. Ronaldo already signed a contract with Red Devils until 2012. Other club can buy him with a price tag over 60 millions Pounds.

(*) Picture courtesy of Empics

The Red Devils favorite to be a winner

It may be hard to guess who will be the winner in this final game. Manchester United and Chelsea are both having top European players. How is the prediction on sport betting market?

William Hill choose the Red Devils to be their favorite to win the game. Asian Handicap gives the Red Devils on top by small numbers different. The bet is only 0:1/4 for Red Devils. The market is not wrong predicting the Red Devils to win because of his experience and skills of their players. We can say the famous names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and others. Of course, who doesn't know the famous trainer of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson. The genius coach who can make a fantastic combination of his team

6000 Police for the Final

Russia really pay attention to the fights going on in UEFA final between Zenit St Petersburg and Glasgow Rangers in England. They afraid the same incident will happen in their country. The host will prepare 6000 police and additional help from military personals. The final match will be attended about 50 thousands supporters from both team. The Russian's minister of Sport, Vitaly Mutko, ask for English supporters give respect to Russian's citizen and accepting whatever the match's result

Road to Final of Chelsea

Group B
18-09-2007 v Rosenberg (Away) - Score 1-1
03-10-2007 v Valencia (Home) - Score 2-1
24-10-2007 v Schalke (Home) - Score 2-0
06-11-2007 v Schalke (Away) - Score 0-0
28-11-2007 v Rosenborg (Away) - Score 4-0
11-12-2007 v Valencia (Home) - Score 0-0
Chelsea was the champion of the group

Big 16
Chelsea versus Olympiakos and Chelsea wins with aggregate goals 3-0
First Match (Home for Olympiakos) - Score 0-0
Second Match (Home for Chelsea) - Score 3-0

Quarter Final
Chelsea versus Fenerbahce and Chelsea wins with aggregate goals 3-2
First Match (Home for Fenerbahce) - 1-2
Second Match (Home for Chelsea) - 2-0

Semifinal
Chelsea versus Liverpool and Chelsea wins with overtime 4-2
First Match (Home for Liverpool) - 1-1
Second Match (Home for Chelsea) - 1-1

Road to Final of Manchester United

Group F
19-09-2007 v Sporting Lisbon (Away) - Score 1-0
02-10-2007 v AS Roma (Home) - Score 1-0
23-10-2007 v Dynamo Kiev (Away) - Score 4-2
07-11-2007 v Dynamo Kiev (Home) - Score 4-0
27-11-2007 v Sporting Lisbon (Home) - Score 2-1
12-12-2007 v AS Roma (Away) - Score 1-1
Manchester United was the champion of the group

Big 16
M United versus O. Lyon and M United wins with aggregate goals 2-1
First Match (Home for AS Roma) - Score 1-1
Second Match (Home for M United) - Score 1-0

Quarter Final
M United versus AS Roma and M United wins with aggregate goals 3-0
First Match (Home for AS Roma) - 2-0
Second Match (Home for M United) - 1-0

Semifinal
M United versus Barcelona and M United wins with aggregate goals 1-0
First Match (Home for Barcelona) - 0-0
Second Match (Home for M United) - 1-0

Luzhniki Stadium

The big match between Manchester United against Chelsea will be held on May 21st. There is a very short time for Luzhniki Stadium to prepare everything for the match. The most important thing they need to do is changing the synthetic grass to real one. They will not take out the synthetic grass, but it will be covered by the real grass. This activity is showing how much the importance of the Champions League. It is not easy to place real grass in Luzhniki because of the cold weather in Russia.

Related to the issue of visa application, there is a possibility Russia will loosen up a little bit on the mechanism of visa application for English supporters. Even though, the diplomatic relations between the two countries are not in good level. Especially, after the incident last November 2006 when a member of KGB Alexander Litvinenko died in London.

(*) Picture courtesy of UEFA

Champions League Final

2006-2007 - AC Milan v Liverpool ( 2-1 )
2005-2006 - Barcelona v Arsenal ( 2-1 )
2004-2005 - AC Milan v Liverpool ( 6-5 Penalty)
2003-2004 - AS Monaco v Porto ( 0-3 )
2002-2003 - Juventus v AC Milan ( 2-3 Penalty )
2001-2002 - B. Leverkusen v Real Madrid ( 1-2 )
2000-2001 - B. Munchen v Valencia ( 5-4 Penalty )
1999-2000 - Real Madrid v Valencia ( 3-0 )
1998-1999 - M. United v B. Munchen ( 2-1 )
1997-1998 - Real Madrid v Juventus ( 1-0 )

Do you know?

The winning of Chelsea was the second time from eight matches in Champions League. From eight matches, both team were having four times draw and two wins for Liverpool

This season is the first wins for Chelsea against Liverpool in Champions League semifinal. In two previous semifinal in 2006 and 2007, Liverpool always win and made it to the final round

This is the first time Chelsea made it to the final round. Previous matches, Chelsea lost against Liverpool twice in 2005 and 2007. Chelsea also lost against AS Monaco in 2004

It is the second time Liverpool lost in semifinal. The first time was in 1965

Chelsea made it to the final

Chelsea and Liverpool are having a tight competition in Premier League with 81 points each. In Champions League, the Blues finally made it to final and will meet The Red Devils in Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow. Chelsea wins with 3-2 against Liverpool in Stamford Bridge on second match. The first match, Chelsea had a draw with one goal each.

Liverpool started the first half with bad performance. Didier Drogba made a goal in 33 minutes. Fernando Torres made it equal 19 minutes of the second half. Too bad for Liverpool, Sammy Hypia made a mistake by making a bad tackle on Michael Ballack. The referee gave a penalty for Chelsea. This opportunity used wisely by Lampard and making another goal from penalty kick 98 minutes of extra time. Drogba made another goal on 105 minutes after having a good passing from Nicolas Anelka. The final goal made by Ryan Babel on 117 minutes, but Liverpool was running out of time to catch up and lost with one goal different

(*) Picture by Football pictures

Do You Know?

The winning of Manchester United 1-0 is the first win against Barcelona from six matches in Champions League. Four of them were draw and one match win by Barcelona

Manchester United successfully made it to final three times in total from 10 times opportunity in Semifinal Champions League

One country match in Champions League Final

One country match in the final has been three times happen in Champions League. The first country who made this happen was Spain followed by Italy. By the winning of Manchester United and Chelsea, England follows the success of Spain and Italy as a country who's collecting the trophies 11 times. The top record hold by Real Madrid who collected 9 trophies out of 11 trophies owned by Spain. The second place is AC Milan with 7 trophies

Manchester United goes to Champions League Final

All English Final in Champion League 2007/2008. Manchester United continues the English domination this season after beaten up the Spanish representative Barcelona. Who's the hero of today's match? Paul Scholes is the answer. The only goal by Scholes in 14 minutes after the game start, made United wins the second leg semifinal. The bad passing made by Gianluca Zambrotta gave the opportunity for Scholes to shoot the ball 25 yards from the net.

The Red Devils will meet the winner of the match between Chelsea and Liverpool. Chelsea has a bigger chance to meet the Red Devil after a draw on the first match (1-1) in Anfeld.

This is the third times for United successfully made to the final round. The previous two given them a trophy. Can they repeat it again this season?

Looking back to the history of Champions league, Manchester United win 4-1 against Benfica in Wembley Stadium 1968. At that time, Champions League was called as European Cup. In 1999, United win against Bayern Munchen 2-1 in Nou Camp.

United has proven once again as a great football club. The absent of Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic can be replaced nicely by Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo. Without Vidic, Wes Brown was back to the game and showed a team play with Rio Ferdinand in defense area.

While Manchester United celebrates their winning, different situation happened with Barcelona. The lost of Champions league trophy completed the bad record of Frank Rijkaard and ending this season with zero trophy