UEFA Champions League Final 2007-2008 Man Utd v Chelsea Preview
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Hey, my name is Liam, and I first published 'UEFA Champions League Final 2007-2008 Man Utd v Chelsea Preview' on 17th May, 2008, within the Champions League section.
The 2007-08 UEFA Champions League is the 16th season of UEFA’s premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League , since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall. The final is scheduled to be played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 21 May 2008, 19:45 BST where Manchester United will play against Chelsea, making it an all-English club final for the first time in the history of the European Cup.
Portugese winger Nani, suspended for the Premier League finale against Wigan, returns to the Manchester United squad for the Champions League final.
Sir Alex Ferguson must discard six of the 24-man squad travelling to Moscow as he decides on his seven substitutes.
Central defenders Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry and striker Didier Drogba are all expected to be fit for Chelsea.
The main dilemma for boss Avram Grant is whether to pick Florent Malouda or Salomon Kalou on the left flank.
Ashley Cole is expected to get the nod over Wayne Bridge at left-back, with Michael Essien likely to remain at right-back rather than a recall for Paolo Ferreira or Juliano Belleti.
Claude Makelele is set to take the holding role in midfield ahead of John Mikel Obi, with Joe Cole on the right flank.
“I know 80% of my team,” said Grant. “But I like to keep watching them in training to see how they are doing.”
For United, Paul Scholes, who missed the 1999 Champions League final through suspension, is expected to start in the Luzhniki Stadium.
Ryan Giggs, who did play in 1999, will overtake Sir Bobby Charlton’s club record of 758 appearances if he features in Moscow, although he may start on the bench.
Ferguson said Ji-Sung Park, who has started most of their biggest games of late, had a “great chance” of being in the final line-up.
Man Utd squad: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Heaton; Brown, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Neville, O’Shea, Pique, Silvestre, Anderson, Fletcher, Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Nani, Park, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Saha, Welbeck.
Chelsea: Cech, Hilario, Belletti, Ferreira, Carvalho, Alex, Ben-Haim, Terry, A Cole, Bridge, J Cole, Ballack, Essien, Lampard, Wright-Phillips, Malouda, Kalou, Anelka, Drogba, Shevchenko, Mikel, Makelele.
UEFA Champions League 2007-08 Stats
Tournament details
Dates 18 September 2007 – 21 May 2008
Teams 32
Tournament statistics
Matches played 124
Goals scored 328 (2.65 per match)
Attendance 5,313,637 (42,852 per match)
Top scorer(s) Cristiano Ronaldo (7 goals)
2007–08 marks the first season in the competition’s history that four teams from the same country have reached the quarter-final stage, following the progression of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United into the final stages.
Chelsea reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history.
For the first time in Champions League history, none of the English teams were eliminated by a non-English team. Arsenal were eliminated by Liverpool, who were eliminated by Chelsea, who will now face Manchester United in the final.
The final between Chelsea and Manchester United is the first all-English final in the history of the European Cup and the third final between two teams from the same country. The others were in 2000(Real Madrid v Valencia, Real Madrid won 3-0 in Paris) and 2003(Juventus v AC Milan, AC Milan won in the penalty shoot-out in Old Trafford, Manchester).
Manchester United’s victory over Roma in the second leg of the quarter-finals was their eleventh successive home win, surpassing Juventus’ record of ten that was set between the 1995-96 and 1997-98 seasons – they subsequently extended the run of home victories to twelve with a 1–0 defeat of Barcelona in the semi-finals.
The same three English sides (Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) played in the semi-finals for the second season in a row. The only team that was not in the previous season’s semi-finals was Barcelona. This semi-final line-up meant that there would be an English team in the final for the fourth season in a row.
This one is sure to be exciting and nervy for both players, fans and neutrals. Kick off is at 7.45 GMT so you can tune in here to our live football scores or watch live football service.
