Weedalis Van Deedalis
 
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Hello there, I'm Weedalis Van Deedalis part-time magician and psychic. My amazing powers came to me one night when I was struck in 1977 by a falling electricity pylon on holiday in Doncaster. Since then I've been blessed with the most amazingly cunning powers of football prediction. I can see past, present and future all at once, which as you can imagine, is a complete bugger when someone is planning a surprise birthday party for you. |
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Check
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Due to some silly copyright restrictions I am unable to refer directly to the Premiership fixture list including dates and proper team names. |
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At long last I can write about a most joyous occasion and it gives me great pleasure indeed. Manchester United are in the 2008 Champions League Final!!!!The long path from the Nou Camp in 1999 sees United 9 years on and several thousand miles further east in Moscow chasing the glory of the huge silver pot in the first ever all English European Cup final. It is a clash of Manchester United's history, tradition and success built on years of toil and unfailing support against the new money of one time minnows Chelsea, who have bought success much like a microwave oven heats food. But United's position as the world's most supported and famous club will count for nothing on the pitch tonight if the 11 men do not perform. Short of holding the final in Kazahstan, Moscow is pretty much the furthest distance away UEFA could hold a final in. Certainly fans are being asked to outlay an ungodly amount of monies and endure administrative woes to make the all important game. But it does allow a climatic setting as Russian Roman Abramovich sees the club he bought competing for the ultimate prize in football in his homeland. In terms of ownership it is USA vs Russia, in terms of football it is the two best teams in England over the last three seasons head to head on the biggest stage. And one need hardly remind that Russia is the home of all things Red, from the Communist USSR, the Bolshevik heart of a once mighty red empire sees the worlds most famous Red organisation roll into town. Red Square will be even redder on the 21st and it is a certainty United will have more fans given that Chelsea are no match for the Manchester global footballing mammoth. 
Fact explosion time!!! Moscow is the biggest city in Europe with a population of nearly 10.5 million. According to a survey by Forbes magazine the Russian capital now boasts more billionaires than any other city in the world!!! The Luzhniki Stadium normally has an 85,000 capacity but is reduced to 69,500 for this game. It hosted the 1980 Olympics. Due to harsh Russian winters it usually has an artificial pitch but thankfully the teams will play on grass tonight. It was built for the 1989 Olympics and has a five star rating by UEFA. it is a typical old East European stadium with a horrible old running track that puts fans miles from the pitch. The stadium has red and yellow seats, the colour of the Manchester United badge. United have been drawn as the home team. Moscow is 3 hours head of GMT so KO will be 22.45 local time. If the game goes to extra time it won't finish until roughly 1.15 am and penalties could add another 20 minutes to that!!! 
The match ball will be white with red stars.
Youthful Slovakian Lubos Michel will referee the match. He blundered in the Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool in 2005, when Luis Garcia was awarded the goal that never was. In the two previous "same country" Champions League finals the team with the most previous European Cup victories has won. AC Milan beat Juventus and Real Madrid beat Valencia. 1972 saw an all English UEFA Cup Final in which Tottenham Hotspur defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 on aggregate. Ronaldo is top scorer in this years Champions League with 7 goals. Didier Drogba has 6. Previous winners in a Champions League final? United have in their midst Van Der Sar, Hargreaves, Neville, Giggs and Brown all on the winning team. Patrice Evra tasted defeat with Monaco in 2004. Chelsea have also 5 previous winners: Carvalho, Ferreira, Shevchenko, Anelka and Makélélé. Ballack was a loser with Bayer Leverkusen in 2002. Don't go betting on a red card. In 2006 Jens Lehmann made European Cup/Champions League history as the first and only player to be sent off in a final. Chelsea have won three European honours - the Cup Winners' Cup in 1971 and 1998 and European Super Cup. Ah-ha, Manchester United have won four European honours - 1668, 1999, 1991 Cup Winners' Cup and 1992 European Super Cup. A European Cup final never been played on 21st May before!!! It is also the first to be held in Russia and only the third time outside an EU nation (Turkey 2005 and Switzerland 1961) United beat Liverpool 2-1 on 21st May 1977 to win the FA Cup. 2008 is 40th and anniversary of 1968 when Georgie Best and Bobby brought glory for Busby and 50 years since the year of the Munich air crash. Avram Grant has won 4 Israeli League Championships AND 2 Israel State Cup's AND 5 Israeli Toto Cups (a bit like the League Cup). An impressive haul is'nt it? By contrast Sir Alex Ferguson has only won 30 major trophies including ten English Premier League's, 3 Scottish Leagues, 2 Cup Winners' Cups, 5 FA Cups, 4 Scottish FA Cup's....did I forget anything? Oh yes and a Champions League title in 1999. So I'll wager he's not too irked at not winning an Israeli Toto Cup!! Fact explosion stop!!! Lets look at Chelsea: 
It is most ironic that the "Special One" Jose Mourinho could not deliver a Champions League final but the "Unloved One" Avram Grant has somehow managed it. Yet Jose may be long gone but looking at the Chelsea system and style of play his dour legacy is alive and well. A team built on organisation, tactics and brute power. Grant has done little to change it as the Jose mantra runs through the Mourinho moulded players DNA.
The danger for United is that that Chelsea will have more stamina and energy. The Reds showed signs of wilting under the pursuit of the Premiership in recent weeks whereas Chelsea gained momentum. But with the Premiership crown secured and ten days rest, surely United will be given a huge psychological and thus adrenalin boost? Of course a similar occurrence occurred last season yet in the FA Cup Final but it was Chelsea who had the upper hand, albeit a marginal one. But this is no mere FA Cup, a competition long since devalued. This is the holy grail for Sir Alex!!!! His team will be supremely motivated to play to their maximum abilities on the biggest stage of all. Defensively the Blue meanies were once masters but the crown has passed north to United. Nonetheless only United have a better defensive record and both had 21 clean sheets in the Premiership. Unusually for a central midfielder, Frank Lampard leads the scoring chart for the Blues with 19 goals. Star striker Didier Drogba is back on 15 after African Cup, injury and poor form rendering him nowhere near the 33 net-bundle of last term. Drogba will be a most potent threat but questions over his fitness may see said potency diluted, not to mention telling everyone he wants to go to AC Milan next season! Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou have chipped in with a similar totallage but £15m January arrival Nicolas Anelka has been a huge floppage so far with only two goals in 23 matches. At his old club Bolton before the big move he bagged 11 goals in 22 matches. Not that "Le Sulk" will worry, he'll be off again to pastures new if this latest move doesn't work out and for a generous remuneration package no doubt. Then there is Shevchenko, it might surprise you to know the £30m mega-flop super-sub has actually bagged 8 goals this term but then again even Louis Saha has got 5 and he has only played for a total of two minutes. Tactics In terms of formation both teams prefer similar systems, either a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 / 4- 2-3-1 hybrid. United utilise theirs to greater adventure of course. 
For the Champions you can fully expect Fergie to also play the 4-2-3-1 formation he has used so many times in Europe instead of the traditional 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1. Barring injury the backline is almost certainly, Van Der Sar, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra but he will have big choices elsewhere. There is oft a suprise inclusion in the starting line-ups for big finals but I don't expect Sir Alex to play the venerable legend that is Ryan Giggs from the start. Will he go for both Tevez and Rooney? Surely yes, but will he play Ronaldo as a centre forward flanked by the duo? What of Park and Nani? Assuming Sir Alex sticks his promise of playing Paul Scholes in the final what about Hargreaves or Carrick or Anderson or even Darren Fletcher for that matter? Fergie has pre-ordained a pledge to play Paul Scholes, which must surely come at the expense of Anderson. One cannot see him dropping Carrick and Hargreaves experience and ability to match Ballack may well see him start. Who will he name on the bench? Is there a place for Dong Fangzhuo? Good Lord, Lets hope not. Already Ferguson has spoken of his pain at having a lot of players will miss out given he can only name 19 players and has no injuries or suspensions. The likes of John O'Shea, Darren Fletcher, Mikael Silvestre, Gary Neville and even Anderson will all be at risk of not making the bench. My predicted starting line-ups are as follows: Van Der Sar
Verdict: So how does Weedalis Van deedalis see the big game going? The biggest ever game played by two English clubs? Well....Chelsea are a strong team but they lack United's brilliance and genuis to create goals out of nothing. They only finished the 6th highest scorers in the Premiership this season behind Aston Villa and Spurs!!! Although United are rock solid at the back, I prophesise Fergie playing to United's strengths - which is attacking football. Rather than get embroiled in a chess match like last season's FA Cup final I sense we will see a much more adventurous approach. I foresee a tight game in the opening 30 minutes but then suddenly United will get the first goal before half time through Carlos Tevez. Then Chelsea will apply pressure but get caught out as the Red counter attacking wizardry cuts them to ribbons and complete victory with a second decisive goal, probably from Cristiano Ronaldo. Then as the match is in its last minutes United will add a third through Wayne Rooney to lift the roof off the Luzhniki Stadium and proclaim themselves kings of Europe. The biggest club wins the biggest prize and it will indeed be Manchester United's night. Let two become three!!!! 
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