Chelsea V Manchester United (The Big Final) in UEFA Champions League from Football.co.uk

ImmortaL · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 12:33 pm

Flipper wrote:

i want both.. and so do fergie and every single red devil.. and max.. no.. you ain't a devil.. Razz

Sorry Jenny, you'll only have one title. But somehow my wish comes true(A big IF), you guys will be trophyless this season... Laughing

Flipper · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 12:41 pm

ImmortaL wrote:

Flipper wrote:

i want both.. and so do fergie and every single red devil.. and max.. no.. you ain't a devil.. Razz

Sorry Jenny, you'll only have one title. But somehow my wish comes true(A big IF), you guys will be trophyless this season... Laughing

oh come on.. you said you wanted us to win the double cups for Gunners.. Laughing

next season.. ask wenger not to be 'greedy'.. one cup at a time.. then slowly become two cups at a time..

don't aim for four cups at a time in a season.. with a bunch of youngsters.. Razz

we've just played against Chelsea in epl match.. so we wouldn't be shaking in moscow.. unless it snows.. Razz

ImmortaL · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 1:21 pm

Flipper wrote:

ImmortaL wrote:

Flipper wrote:

i want both.. and so do fergie and every single red devil.. and max.. no.. you ain't a devil.. Razz

Sorry Jenny, you'll only have one title. But somehow my wish comes true(A big IF), you guys will be trophyless this season... Laughing

oh come on.. you said you wanted us to win the double cups for Gunners.. Laughing

next season.. ask wenger not to be 'greedy'.. one cup at a time.. then slowly become two cups at a time..

don't aim for four cups at a time in a season.. with a bunch of youngsters.. Razz

we've just played against Chelsea in epl match.. so we wouldn't be shaking in moscow.. unless it snows.. Razz

Hey when did I say that???

Don't worry. We'll be challenging for all the trophies next season and hopefully atleast one if not more...

I dunno about that... You guys have a great chance of winning the league even if Chelsea finished on the same no. of points as Utd. But I don't think you can beat Chelsea in the CL final... Remember the last years' FA cup final... Your team will lose for sure... Laughing

Max · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:18 pm

Flipper wrote:

Max wrote:

Flipper wrote:

Max wrote:

Flipper wrote:

cfc+stfc4lyf wrote:

United will win the League
Then Chelsea will win the CL
Kalou hat-trick Very Happy

i'd think it's like a drogba's Laughing

thanks for the idea.. but we'd like to win both if possible.. Razz

we'd already bloodily played against relatively good other european teams to come to this stage.. Sad

Sorry Flips, you have to chose one or the other Laughing

So which one do you want, CL or Prem title?

this's crazy.. we're actually competing with the same team for both cl cup and prem title.. Sad

screw you grant.. bring back mourinho.. Laughing

i want both.. and so do fergie and every single red devil.. and max.. no.. you ain't a devil.. Razz

I want Jose back as well. Ain't gonna happen though Sad

And Flipper I am a red devil, an Italian red devil Wink

yeah.. it'd be great if he could coach in epl again next season.. would be a huge reunion to his rivals.. Very Happy

lies.. there's no italian red devil.. wait.. as roma?.. as the image's like a devil or something?.. Confused

A.C. Milan Wink

Flipper · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:15 am

ImmortaL wrote:

Hey when did I say that???

Don't worry. We'll be challenging for all the trophies next season and hopefully atleast one if not more...

I dunno about that... You guys have a great chance of winning the league even if Chelsea finished on the same no. of points as Utd. But I don't think you can beat Chelsea in the CL final... Remember the last years' FA cup final... Your team will lose for sure... Laughing

when i forced you to say that.. remember?.. Laughing

sometimes it's great if you don't wish us to win.. the pressure's lesser.. thanks for your consideration.. Razz

Max wrote:

A.C. Milan Wink

i love milan a.c.. used to be a fan of costacurta.. man.. it's so old time.. Very Happy

Roonanialdo · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:47 am

Roonanialdo wrote:

Whichever team wins the league will be carried by the momentum and will go on to do the double.

Naturally I believe United are a far better side than Chelsea, who managed to get a fortunate result at the Bridge with United NOT playing a full strength side.

My prediction is Manchester United to win the EPL and Champions League, with Ronaldo finishing as top scorer in both competitions, as well as becoming World Player of the year to add to his second consecutive PFP award.

I further predict that Specnur will then eat his words, renounce his biased belief's and hail Ronaldo as the best player on the planet THIS season. Then I predict that I will win the National lottery Wink

My prediction is well on course now Very Happy

The only difficulty......I think winning the National Lottery will be easier than getting Specnur to hail Ronaldo as the best player on the planet THIS season Wink

conner99 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:58 am

well i think if John Terry or Didier Drogba are not fit for the final then Man Utd will be huge favourites to win .

Roonanialdo · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:07 pm

conner99 wrote:

well i think if John Terry or Didier Drogba are not fit for the final then Man Utd will be huge favourites to win .

My hope is that Chelsea have a fully fit squad available so that when we beat them 2-0 (my prediction) there will be no doubts about who are the best side this year.

mrtz · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:10 pm

Roonanialdo wrote:

conner99 wrote:

well i think if John Terry or Didier Drogba are not fit for the final then Man Utd will be huge favourites to win .

My hope is that Chelsea have a fully fit squad available so that when we beat them 2-0 (my prediction) there will be no doubts about who are the best side this year.

Agreed. No excuses! Rub some dirt on those wounds and let's play!

Ragap · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 3:06 pm

In truth Utd have looked a litle tired since they beat Villa at OT and times looked a little rusty against Wigan yesterday. However they should have enough in the tank to upset Red Rom in his backyard.

Roonanialdo · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 11:32 am

Jim White -Award Winning Daily Telegraph Columnist wrote:

It's all in the mind games
Tue May 13 11:18AM

At the conclusion of Manchester United's victory over Wigan that sealed the club's 17th English title, Alex Ferguson said the following:

"This will give us a tremendous lift [for the Champions League final]. I remember when we lost the title on the last day in 1995 and had a FA Cup final to play how deflated the players were. It would be hard to pick them up from this if they'd lost today."

The moment you heard that, there could only be one thought: he never stops, does he? There was English football's most decorated manager, a knight of the realm, a man who has achieved everything in the game and still he was looking forward to the next challenge. Those words weren't a casual aside. They weren't a passing observation on the state of the game. They were a direct and penetrating assault on the condition of his rivals for the Champions League final, Chelsea. The aim was to insert a psychological barb, do his bit to undermine Chelsea morale by pointing to the scenes of relaxed, uninhibited celebration going on behind him. This is what winners do, he was saying. Losers have to regroup, lift themselves, mentally re-focus. And that, he wanted to suggest, is hard.

Ferguson has achieved all he has achieved by never missing a trick. His attention to detail is extraordinary. For him, there is no such thing as a down moment, no such thing as a point of relaxation. Every second is filled with working out ways to propel his team forwards.

That is what Avram Grant is up against: Alex Ferguson, a man who has not only been there, done that, but has designed the t-shirt and wrote the logo on the front. Of course, being a wise man, Grant will have tried to ensure that the Chelsea players were not listening to a word his rival was saying. He will have told them that they had done brilliantly to achieve all they had, that given the position they were in back in November, with half their senior players crocked, they had no right to be competing to the last. He would have reminded them that in one-off games they have the edge over their Mancunian rivals. And, now it has reached the denouement, the Champions League is but a one-off. He will have been working as hard as Ferguson, preparing his boys for the challenge.

Thus have the battle lines been drawn. Prepare yourself over the coming week for a relentless barrage of mind games. It will be fun. But the question is, who do you think will come out on top next Wednesday? More to the point, do you think Fergie's brand of mental disintegration - as the Aussie cricket captain Steve Waugh once described sporting mind games - can really have any effect on the outcome? Or is it ultimately down simply to the relative merits of 22 players?

Steely Hill · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 2:13 pm

nothing ferguson can say will get to Grant or his players.

in fact i would be amazed if anything ferguson ever says gets listened to by any of his rivals. he is a well known bullsh*tter. he talks things up to get the media onside with the dicklicking he recieves and when they dare go against him he avoids them (BBC).

it will come down to 90 mins (or 120) of football. on the pitch is where it matters and that is where all Chelsea's efforts will be.

i can see a 1-0 win for Chelsea.

ImmortaL · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 2:31 pm

Steely Hill wrote:

nothing ferguson can say will get to Grant or his players.

in fact i would be amazed if anything ferguson ever says gets listened to by any of his rivals. he is a well known bullsh*tter. he talks things up to get the media onside with the dicklicking he recieves and when they dare go against him he avoids them (BBC).

it will come down to 90 mins (or 120) of football. on the pitch is where it matters and that is where all Chelsea's efforts will be.

i can see a 1-0 win for Chelsea.

I also think it'll be a close result like the FA cup final between them when Drogba scored the winner for Chelsea.

I can see a 1-0 or a 2-1 win for Chelsea in either FT or ET. But it won't go to the penalties IMO...

J-Axe · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:37 pm

Obviously I'd like to see a Chelsea win.

But I can't see it. Man Utd are the stronger of the two I believe and I think Man Utd will have enough in the tank to outscore Chelsea.

Ben91 · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:44 pm

When you say "outscore" J-Axe, you mean scoring 1 goal to nil, or scoring more penalties, right?

It'll be unbelievably tense and 1 goal will win it in my opinion.

J-Axe · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:54 pm

Most likely.

I just meant that in terms of who has the most quality in their goalscoring ability to break down a tight Defence then it's Man Utd. Although somebody like Drogba can prove fatal given one half-chance out of nothing. Then if you look at it from the angle that there'll be slim chances and shots on goal then you have to consider the quality of the Goalkeepers and I think Cech is the more likely hero.

Either way it'll be interesting. I'll be secretly cheering on Chelsea for once, but I do think Man Utd will win it. Sad

Roonanialdo · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:28 am

Steely Hill wrote:

nothing ferguson can say will get to Grant or his players.

in fact i would be amazed if anything ferguson ever says gets listened to by any of his rivals. he is a well known bullsh*tter. he talks things up to get the media onside with the dicklicking he recieves and when they dare go against him he avoids them (BBC).

it will come down to 90 mins (or 120) of football. on the pitch is where it matters and that is where all Chelsea's efforts will be.

i can see a 1-0 win for Chelsea.

Joe Cole doing his bit to crank up the 'psychological' warfare. He should know better than to throw down the gauntlet to opposition players to prove themselves. Look at Benitez and Drogba.

wrote:

Messi better than Ronaldo - Cole

Chelsea's Joe Cole says Barcelona's Lionel Messi is ahead of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world. Cole said Messi's form in Barca's Champions League semi-final defeat by United settled the debate.

"Ronaldo's been fantastic but in the semi-final Messi showed he's the top man," said Cole, who will face Ronaldo in next week's Champions League final. "He is only 20 as well, imagine how good he will be in the next 10 years." Messi has been linked with a �80m move to Chelsea, and Cole admitted he would be delighted if the speculation proved to be true.

"If we could sign him, I'd love to play alongside him," he added. Cole's comments will help to crank up the atmosphere ahead of Wednesday's final between United and Chelsea in Moscow.

source: BBC website

Roonanialdo · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:57 am

Steely Hill wrote:

nothing ferguson can say will get to Grant or his players.

in fact i would be amazed if anything ferguson ever says gets listened to by any of his rivals. he is a well known bullsh*tter. he talks things up to get the media onside with the dicklicking he recieves and when they dare go against him he avoids them (BBC).

it will come down to 90 mins (or 120) of football. on the pitch is where it matters and that is where all Chelsea's efforts will be.

i can see a 1-0 win for Chelsea.

So much for your hero Grant not being a MOANER Laughing

wrote:

Avram Grant blows whistle on referees

Avram Grant has accused some English match officials of buckling under the influence of Manchester United and admitted that he is pleased a foreign referee will take charge of next week's Champions League final.

In remarks that will be carefully studied by the Football Association, Grant also questioned the impartiality of referee Steve Bennett during United's 2-0 victory against Wigan on Sunday that clinched the Premier League title.

Raising tensions: Avram Grant has started the mind games
"I looked at the game," said Grant. "He [the referee] was, as expected, good for one team. I told you that I believed in the tradition of the fair English game. I will not say anything against it. But what happened is what I expected.

"In England there are very good referees, but there are some - a few that you can influence, like you saw."

Grant faces the possibility of disciplinary action for his comments but will first receive a letter from the FA requesting an explanation. The Chelsea manager, though, is unlikely to back down from his concerns. He believes that some players and managers try to influence referees as a deliberate tactic.

Grant, who supports the proposal that only captains should speak to the officials during matches, also previously said that John-Obi Mikel's sending-off against United last September was "the decision not only of the referee".

He is also adamant that Mike Dean, the referee for that game, cost Chelsea a match that ultimately proved decisive in the title race.

"I think in our game against Manchester United at Old Trafford, the referee changed the result for sure," he said. "We know that. I think the red card for Mikel in that game should not have been a red card, I think that Scholes should have had a red card on Sunday and Wigan a penalty also.

"I do not think the world is against Chelsea, or English football. But in this case there were some coincidences, for Manchester United. But again I congratulate them."

Sir Alex Ferguson will get the chance to answer Grant's observations today, but the Israeli's comments are sure to raise tensions and can be interpreted as the beginning of the mind games between the two managers ahead of next Wednesday.

source: telegraph website

Roonanialdo · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 5:16 pm

Sir Alex Ferguson has a selection dilemma ahead of the Champions League Final with 26 fully fit first team players. Who is he going to disappoint?

wrote:

Sir Alex Ferguson is facing up to the biggest selection headache of his managerial career as he attempts to pick a squad for Manchester United's Champions League final against Chelsea. The United boss has no injury or suspension worries ahead of the Moscow clash a week on Wednesday and is delighted to have 26 players to choose from. But with Ferguson able to name only seven substitutes for the match, he must tell eight of his stars they will play no part in the club's biggest game for nine years.

"I think picking the team will be easier than picking the substitutes," he said on Sky Sports News.

"I'm going to have to leave some fantastic players out of the squad completely next week, which I won't enjoy doing.

"It's got to be done and I don't know when I'm going to pick that moment.

Source: Independent

This is who I would choose:

1. Van der Sar
2. Evra
3. Brown
4. Ferdinand
5. Vidic
6. Carrick
7. Scholes
8. Ronaldo
9. Nani
10. Tevez
11. Rooney
12. Hargreaves
13. Anderson
14. Giggs
15. O'Shea
16. Park
17. Fletcher
18. Kuszczak
-------------------------

Left out of the squad
19. Neville
20. Sivestre
21. Saha
22. Pique
23. Eagles
24. Dong
25. Welbeck
26. Foster

I believe SAF has enough flexibility in the squad to cover full back positions through Hargreaves and O'Shea, and centre back positions with Brown and O'Shea. Neville and Silvestre are not match fit and Pique isn't good enough. Saha is the only doubt I have in the 8 left out, but he has played little part in the season so far.

What do you think???

Sparkyjinx · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:20 pm

I really hope its a good Final and gives the Premiership a decent account of itself.

I don't particularly mind who wins, I guess I'd like to see Chelsea do it what with it being their first Final and United having won the domestic league.