Manchester United vs Chelsea
Uefa Champions League Final, Moscow, 1945 GMT
These are arguably the best two teams in the world. They've battled it out till the last day in the Premier League and are now playing each other for the most coveted prize in football, the UCL trophy. Chelsea are for the first time in the Final, while Manchester has won two, the first one fifty years ago and the latter in 1999, in a 2-1 thriller against Bayern Munich.
Manchester United come to Moscow after they've won the English Premier League, the most competitive domestic championship in the world. They were losing ground in the last days but they managed to hold off the challenge of Chelsea and finished 2 points ahead. Alex Ferguson said it'll be hard to pick a starting eleven as he has so much talent in the squad and will feel sorry for the ones which won't play. In my opinion he got his wrong eleven against Barcelona in both legs, as United struggled to pull away,but eventually managed a hard-fought qualification. All eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is a fact that he isn't at his best against major teams. Rooney and Vidic overcame injuries to be fit for this, the most important game of their careers so far.
As did Terry and Drogba, from the Blues side. Now, Chelsea have the momentum, as their star players are all fit and haven't played too many games this season. That's a big plus in terms of freshness. The likes of Carvalho, Ballack, Lampard and Drogba will know that this is their moment to win big. And this is the biggest prize in football. Owner Roman Abramovich invested in football as he wanted to watch his team win Champions League trophies and after four semifinals in five years, this is the chance for Chelsea.
The defences are so great for both United and Chelsea, they've also got great men going forward and I'm certain the battle will be won in midfield. I think Chelsea has the better players in the middle of the park as Ballack and Lampard are two of the best all-around midfielders and Makelele is the best defensive midfielder in the world for the last ten or so years. He won two UCL trophies with Real Madrid and he is said to have been their most important player in the Galactic era. United has also got great midfielders (Scholes, Carrick or Hargreaves), but they haven't got experience playing in this sort of games.
I go for Chelsea winning the Champions League (evens).