Champions League
2008-05-21 - Manchester Utd vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Gooner
BACKGROUND
Manchester United and Chelsea will take their rivalry on to the biggest stage of all when they step out in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium for the first all-English UEFA Champions League final on 21 May.
United are aiming to inflict further heartache on Chelsea by claiming their third European Champion Clubs' Cup, having already pipped them to the Premier League title on the season's final day.
United ensured they finished two points clear of Avram Grant's team by winning 2-0 at Wigan Athletic as Chelsea were held 1-1 at home by Bolton Wanderers FC.
But domestic supremacy does not always transfer to Europe.
Chelsea may have finished second best in the Premier League but they can take heart from the fact in the two previous same-country Champions League finals – it was the side finishing lower in their domestic league who triumphed.
Real Madrid v Valencia CF in 2000 and AC Milan v Juventus in 2003.
EUROPEAN OMENS
A UEFA Champions League triumph this year, 50 years after the loss of eight of manager Sir Matt Busby's 'Babes' in the 1958 Munich air crash, would carry a particular emotional resonance for United, who were previously continental champions in 1968 and 1999.
Chelsea supporters may find a positive omen in the date of the final: it was on 21 May 1971 that the London side won their first European trophy, beating Real Madrid to claim the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
ROAD TO MOSCOW
Manchester United topped their section in the group stage with a record of 5-1-0 and then defeated Olympique Lyonnais (2-1 on aggregate) in the first knockout round and AS Roma (3-0 overall) in the quarter-finals.
It was a Scholes goal that carried United into the final, earning a 1-0 aggregate victory against semi-final opponents FC Barcelona. His strike came after 14 minutes of the second leg in Manchester.
All together, the Reds Devils 2007/08 European results show nine wins and three draws with 19 goals scored and five
conceded.
Chelsea finished first in their group with a record of 3-3-0 and then the Stamford Bridge club reached the semi-finals with victories against Olympiacos CFP (3-0 agg) and Fenerbahce SK (3-2 agg).
The Blues secured their passage to Moscow by beating Liverpool 4-3 on aggregate. After John Arne Riise's injury-time own goal earned them a 1-1 first-leg draw at Anfield, they ran out 3-2 winners after extra time in the home return, Didier Drogba (33, 105) and Frank Lampard (98pen) the scorers.
In total Chelsea have won six of their 12 games en route to Moscow, drawing five and losing one, with a goals record of 19 for and seven against.
HEAD TO HEAD
The teams have met three times already this season with mixed results.
In the season-opening Community Shield on 5 August, Giggs
(35) and Florent Malouda (45) scored goals in a 1-1 draw before United prevailed 3-0 on penalties.
United were 2-0 winners at Old Trafford in Grant's first game as Chelsea manager on 23 September. Carlos Tevez (45) opened the scoring with his first goal for the club and Louis Saha's 90th-minute penalty secured the victory against visitors reduced to ten men for the last 58 minutes after Jon Obi Mikel's dismissal.
Chelsea avenged that defeat with a 2-1 home win on 26 April. Ballack struck both their goals – the first on 45 minutes, the second an 86th-minute penalty – either side of Wayne Rooney's 57th-minute equaliser for United.
THE VERDICT
These games almost always turn out to be far less entertaining than the build-up with defensive attitudes ruling over any pre-match attacking rhetoric.
United kept 21 clean sheets in the league this season the joint highest total in the English top flight ... along with Chelsea.
Since 2003-04 these sides have met 10 times, and on seven occasions there have been less than 3 goals, with 6 home wins, 3 draws and a Chelsea away win in 2005.
With neither side having a home advantage this time, and so much at stake, I just do not see many chances in the game early on and would look to choose one variant of a bet based on an expectation of a low scoring game.
The Pick :
not many early goals
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
Choose one of :- First half DRAW at 2.05 at Interwetten
- Time of first goal 30-90 mins @ 2.10 at Bet365
- UNDER 2,5 GOALS at 1.50 at various bookmakers.
