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Featured Sport News

Rome classic on the cards

Author: Craig Williams
Date: 26/05/2009

It's Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney against Xavi and Rio Ferdinand versus Carles Puyol.

This year's Champions League Final is a mouthwatering affair between teams which, by common consensus, are currently the best two in Europe and hard to separate in the betting.

If UEFA had been asked at the start of the year which two sides they wanted to contest their showpiece in Rome, they would surely have chosen Manchester United and Barcelona.

The two line-ups contain some of the biggest names in world football and both play an attacking style of football which should be conducive to a thrilling final

United are bidding to become the first side in the Champions League era to successfully defend a European crown, while Barca are hoping to secure the big prize for the third time in their history.

The main protagonists are expected to be Ronaldo and Messi - the winner and runner-up in the World and European Player of the Year awards this year.

Ronaldo certainly has a point to prove as the Portugal winger has failed to scale the heights of last season and many observers claim he was lucky to edge out Messi in the World award back in December.

Messi is also the tournament's leading scorer with eight goals compared to Ronaldo's four and has been significantly more productive in the assist stakes.

However, if the diminutive Argentinian is to seriously stake his claim to be the number one player in the world, then he must perform on the big stage as Messi has often been a peripheral figure in key games.

Elsewhere, the real outcome of the game is likely to be decided in the central area and hinges on United's ability to shut down Barcelona's creative midfielders.

Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to name Michael Carrick, Anderson and Park Ji-Sung in an energetic unit as they look restrict the amount of time the likes of Xavi and Andreas Iniesta - who is expected to shake off a thigh injury - have on the ball.

The absence of Darren Fletcher from the United midfield through suspension is likely to be a major blow.

But the two key suspensions appear to concern Barca, where an already weakened defence will be without both first-choice full-backs Dani Alves and Eric Abidal.

With Rafael Marquez missing through injury, Barca coach Josep Guardiola must decide whether to play Gerard Pique alongside captain Puyol in the centre of defence or whether to shift the imposing Yaya Toure from midfield into the backline.

Whichever defensive unit gets the nod will have its hands full with United able to boast an array of attacking stars in Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez.

Ferguson could start with Rooney on the right-hand side of an attacking trio with Ronaldo down the middle, with Berbatov and Tevez ready to make an impact off the bench.

History suggests that United will come out on top in Rome as the Red Devils won the only other previous European final encounter between the sides - winning the Cup Winners' Cup 2-1 in Rotterdam in 1991.

Last season, United also knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage with two 1-0 victories in games which were notable for their surprisingly cagey nature.

The sportsbooks have therefore made United slight favourites, but revenge will certainly be on the minds of the Barca players ahead of the biggest night of the year for European football.

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