The 2009 Champions League Final will be the 54th final of the tournament and the 17th under the current format. The final will be played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009. The stadium is located in the North of Rome along the river Tiber in the Foro Italico, about 4 miles from the city centre. It has a seating capacity of 82,000 and is one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the host stadium for two Serie A clubs in Roma and Lazio, along with the Italian National side.

History

The stadium, designed by architect Annibale Vitellozzi, sits between the Tiber river and the Monte Mario hill. It was built in 1952 as a venue for the 1960 Summer Olympics. In the outer grounds are various mosaics depicting different Olympic sports and similar statues in the gardens next to the stadium. Stadio Olimpico also hosted the 1987 World Athletics Championships. As a venue for the 1990 World Cup, the stadium underwent a good deal of reconstruction. A roof was added and the stands rebuilt closer to the playing surface, though retaining the "bowl" shape of the stadium. 2009 will be the fourth time the final has been played at the stadium, following Liverpool`s wins over Borussia Monchengladbach in 1977 and AS Roma in 1984, along with Juventus` win over Ajax in 1996.

Accommodation near Stadio Olimpico

Hotels

Rome has hotels in abundance, but given that the Stadio Olimpico is an hour and a half walk from the city centre, it seems sensible for those just wishing to attend the Champions League final to stay as close as possible. For those wishing to make the trip a bit more of a holiday, buses 32 and 280 and tram 225 from the centre of Rome serve the stadium. Some appropriate hotel choices close to Stadio Olimpico include:

Hotel Astrid, Largo Antonio Sarti 4, Rome. This hotel is located within easy walking distance of the stadium and offers garage parking.

Hotel Farnesina, Via della Farnesina 23, Rome. Also close to the stadium, offering full buffet breakfast and free Internet use.

Hostels

Rome`s many hostels, mostly located near the Termini train station, are a cheap and cheerful alternative to hotel accommodation, costing substantially less than a Manchester United hotel. One appropriate hostel is the Happy Days Hostel, Via Trionfale 146, Rome. This is close to the stadium and a mere 10-minute walk from Vatican City, but has an age restriction of 18-35.

Apartments

Various self-catering apartments are also available for rent near Stadio Olimpico, with prices falling in the range between hostels and hotels.

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How cliche that Transylvania is the setting for today's Champions League encounter between Cluj and Chelsea, given of course that it's Oct. 1 and we're about to be bludgeoned for the next 31 days with the images and sounds of Halloween. Just check out the nearest Target or Wal-Mart if you don't believe me.

The ironic thing is that Chelsea likely has that uneasy queasy feeling in the pit of its collective stomach heading into its Group A match--and it's got nothing to do with being a few kilometers from Vlad the Impaler's shack. No, it's more likely due to the fact that underdog Cluj, fifth in the Romanian table, likely isn't sweating this match. Cluj are the darlings of this tournament having conquerered Roma on Matchday One, winning 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico.

Coming home against the 2007-08 Champions League runners-up should be a breeze.

Right?

Well, on any other day, maybe not. Today? Maybe so.
Chelsea is minus four key performers coming into this match, namely Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Joe Cole and of course Michael Essien-- all hamstrung with injuries; Essien for the season. That's a lot of expensive meat on the bench for the Blues so far from home. Expect Didier Drogba back in the Chelsea starting eleven today and his running partner up front will be Salomon Kalou. Jon Obi Mikel will get the call in midfield likely alongside Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard.

Surely Chelsea has enough to stave off the upset; unless of course it falls victim to the same complacency that did in Arsenal against Hull over the weekend. To its credit, Arsenal rebounded in a huge way yesterday, slamming F.C. Porto in London, 4-0.

Manager Luiz Filipe Scolari is saying the right things about his opponent, but understands that semantics don't suit up on the pitch.

"We will treat [Cluj] with total respect. Any team that can win 2-1 at Roma will be dangerous in this competition," he said.

And speaking of saying all the right things, Cluj striker Yousef Kone says Chelsea is four times stronger than Roma right now, making the home team's job--well--four times more difficult.

“Chelsea are a football machine. In the end it's 11 against 11 and the pressure will be on Chelsea, not on us. If they beat us, it would be normal. If we beat them, it would be something fantastic," he said.

So will we see something fantastic? It will be a dramatic, hostile setting for Chelsea against a confident team playing in front of a crowd that is dreaming of an upset. This is Scolari's first test of his managerial mettle at Chelsea--yes even more so than the game against United. He has to move the chess pieces tactically and confidently and the players must execute. Otherwise, Cluj will be in command of the group and Chelsea and Roma will be hammering on each other for second place in the group.

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In a new experiment, I am going to try a weekly wrap-up of news stories that caught my eye but that I don't think require pages of analysis as I am prone to doing

So, here they are, concise and hopefully interesting.

1. UEFA are expected to formally confirm in December that Wembley will host the 2011 Champions League final. The British government confirmed in May that there will be an exemption to tax rules for players appearing in the final and the decision awarding the final to Wembley will likely be rubber-stamped by UEFA's next executive committee on December 16. Dublin's Lansdowne Road is rumoured to be the favourite for the 2011 Europa League - the old UEFA Cup - final.
2. Bulgarian champions CSKA Sofia will take legal action against their national football union after being excluded from the European Champions League. CSKA were banned from European competition after the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) said in June that they had failed to meet licensing criteria because they owed money to the state and creditors. CSKA has retained lawyer Thomas Summerer, who has worked with some of the leading teams in the Bundesliga, and he told a press conference that "The BFU didn't observe its own normative documents and didn't treat CSKA as it should have done." CSKA president Alexander Tomov has promised to reveal the complete truth about the club's revoked license and has released the information on the CSKA website (Note: the link is a Google translated version of the page so may not be completely accurate in grammar or meaning but should give some overview to CSKA's view of the matter).
3. Thierry Henry has revealed he will demand talks with Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola if he continues to be played out on the left wing. Henry had started the pre-season in a more central role but the return of Samuel Eto'o has seen him shifted out wide again. I can understand where Henry is coming from and I would agree that he'd be better off in the middle of the field playing almost as a number 10 behind the main strikers but to start this discussion through the press is perhaps not his wisest move.
4. While we are in Spain, can we spare some sympathy for poor Sporting Gijon? They were hammered twice (7-1 by Real Madrid and 6-1 by Barcelona) in the span of a week and my friends over at La Liga Talk suggest that their season might well be done already. Despite the vast number of injuries to top midfielders for Real (Sneijder,Guti, Gago), they are still loaded and Robben, Van Der Vaart and Ruben De la Red. De la Red was much talked about over the summer after his inclusion in the victorious Spain squad at Euro 2008. De la Red recently revealed that Tottenham tried to sign him during the summer and says he is keeping his options open when the transfer window re-opens in January. I think Real Madrid would be making a mistake in letting him go but with such a packed midfield someone else of quality would have to go. The question is who? Guti, while a candidate based on age, is unlikely to go because of his standing as vice-captain.
5. It's a derby weekend with two of the more intense rivalries on display. In Serie A, it's AC v Inter in the Milan derby while Liverpool and Everton contest the 208th Merseyside derby. In terms of world football derby matches or rivalries, what's your favourite? I think I would choose Real-Barcelona (El Clasico) as the one to watch with the Boca-River Plate and Old Firm derbys coming in a close second.

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Whenever I have a flashback to the late 70s growing up as a child in Wales, I have a very vivid memory of finding a leather soccer ball underneath the tree one Christmas morning. I remember sniffing the black and white checkered ball and smelling the strong scent of leather, as well as tracing my fingertips along the stitching which seemed quite intricate. Those memories still bring a smile to my face thirty years later.

Fast forwarding to this century, I decided to test the 2007/2008 Champions League Final ball to see how it compared to the balls of yesteryear. In fact, it's been a few years since my soccer playing days have ended, so I haven't had an opportunity to play with a professional ball since 2004 or earlier.

The Adidas Finale Moscow Match Soccer Ball seemed surreal to touch and hold especially knowing that it was a replica of the same ball used in the famous 2007/2008 final between Manchester United and Chelsea.

What surprised and impressed me the most was the thermal bonding technology that fuses the ball together and eliminates the need for stitching. Also surprising was how light the ball felt and the overall touch of the ball, which feels more like one of the plastic footballs I was used to playing with in the late seventies. The synthetic feel to it makes it feel like more of a ball for the masses instead of the soccer elite.

Kicking and passing the ball was a pleasant experience. The ball rolled across the grass smoothly and glimmered silver and gold in the sunlight of a hot afternoon's day. It's definitely an attractive ball to look at and majestic enough to sit on a mantelpiece, but it's not too pretty to be struck across the pitch and into the back of the net.

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It's a stretch to compare the FA Community Shield to today's match but it was ten months ago that Manchester United launched their season with a penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea. Manchester United repeated the feat today in the UEFA Champions League final with Edwin van der Sar coming up with the late heroics to save Nicolas Anelka's penalty. You can currently view the penalty shoot-out here.

I had hoped, as I always do, for an open game but given the best two defences in the Premier League were on the field today, it's not surprising that large stretches of the game were cage, especially through the second half and extra time.

The tensions between the sides started to run high after an aerial collision between Paul Scholes and Claude Makelele that left both players with a yellow card and the Manchester United veteran with a bloody (possibly broken) nose.

Scholes received some medical attention and then threw himself back into the fire to make an important contribution. Scholes combined with Wes Brown on a give-and-go. Brown, for the first time that I can recall, had a moment of inspiration and used his left foot, rather than his favoured right, to serve a lovely cross to Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo rose above his marker and headed United in front after 26 minutes. It gave them confidence but they should have been ahead by more going into the break.

Carlos Tevez had two clear chances, once he was robbed by Petr Cech and on the second he just failed to make good contact with Rooney's pass across the face of goal. United were left to regret their missed chances when Chelsea came to life toward the end of the first half. Chelsea pressed forward more and took advantage of some foul-ups in the United backline to equalise on the stroke of half-time. Frank Lampard pounced on a loose ball inside the United area and cooly slotted it home to give Chelsea a major boost going into the second half. First half highlights here.

By comparison to the first, the second half was not as entertaining as the rain continued to pour down and make the pitch conditions difficult. Many players also began to run into cramp problems because of the cool, wet conditions. There was a moment of history three minutes from the end of normal time when Ryan Giggs replaced Scholes to make his 759th appearance for United, beating the previous club record held by United legend Sir Bobby Charlton, who was watching from the stands. Fittingly, Giggs would also later take the decisive penalty in the shootout to complete the script.

Tensions boiled over four minutes from the end of extra time as Didier Drogba was sent off by Slovakian referee Lubos Michel for slapping Nejmana Vidic. A melee had started when Chelsea felt Tevez was unsporting in returning the ball after a break in the action that allowed the players to be treated for cramped-up legs.

It was then on to the nail-baiting matter of the shootout. With Cristiano Ronaldo's effort denied by Cech, John Terry had had the chance to clinch it for Chelsea but slipped on the rain-soaked turf and sent his spot-kick wide. After Giggs scored, one of Anelka's few touches of the match (he came on in the 98th minute) was to put his spot-kick in range for Van der Sar to punch it aside and ignite the celebrations. Chelsea will feel a bit unlucky as in addition to their penalty misses, they also hit two posts. The first by Drogba in the second half and the second in extra time after Frank Lampard's pivot-and-shoot move inside the crowded United penalty area caught Van der Sar flat-footed.

It is somewhat fitting that Manchester win the Champions League this year, in memory of those who died, and those who survived, in the tragedy in Munich in February 1958. It also marks the 40th anniversary of their first European Cup win over Benfica.

United will feel deserving of the win and over the course of the campaign they did what was needed to win, even if they did not always play their flashiest football. Were it not for an unlucky exit to Portsmouth in the FA Cup they could have probably been celebrating another treble tonight but will be satisfied with the massive accomplishment of winning their domestic league as well as the Champions League.

Some links to round things off:

• The Sun has an excellent photo gallery of the match & celebrations
• Manchester United pocket £85m in prize-money for the win
• Player ratings from the Daily Mail and the Guardian
• Ronaldo staying put?
• 10 defining moments of United's CL season

All video links come courtesy of 101greatgoals.com. Be sure to check them out for more great video footage from today's match.

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Today will be the second time a European cup competition has been contested by two English clubs. The 1971-72 UEFA Cup saw Tottenham Hotspur defeat Wolverhampton 3-2 on aggregate.

The big news heading into today's match is the knock Ashley Cole took in training but otherwise both clubs have a full roster to select from. Cole will be needed to help try and keep leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo quiet. For Chelsea, John Terry dislocated his elbow on the final day of the Premier League season, but seems to have made a stunning recovery to play. That is a major boost for Chelsea as their backline is simply not as strong without Terry back there. It will be interesting to see if Joe Cole gets a start or if Chelsea will go with three central midfielders.

Michael Ballack will be very important for Chelsea. His size will be needed on set pieces and he was the difference in a 2-1 win against United in the Premier League as the season wound down. He has developed an understanding with Frank Lampard and the two have been combining nicely down the stretch. Ballack's form has improved over the course of the season and we're finally seeing some of the class he showed for Bayern Munich and Germany so often in the past.

Sir Alex Ferguson wisely had injury-jinxed centre-back Nemanja Vidic train on his own on Tueday. Ferguson insists that he is to fit to start and has been on his own training program with his recent spate of injuries. The intrigue for United will be in midfield where there are many talents at Ferguson's disposal. Paul Scholes, who missed the 1999 final through suspension, has been promised a place in the starting line-up and will line up beside Michael Carrick, who has been a fixture throughout the campaign.

However, it will be interesting to see what formation Ferguson decides to go with. Will he plays Owen Hargreaves in the middle to counter Lampard/Ballack or will he start with Ji-Sung Park to offer a wide threat. Hargreaves lifted the CL trophy in 2001 with former club Bayern Munich and has the experience edge over Park. Ryan Giggs seems likely to start from the bench but will get into the match at some point, allowing him to break Sir Bobby Charlton's club record of 758 appearances.

The key man for United is Ronaldo, he has to make the most of his freedom to roam and create chances for his side. The other player to watch is Wayne Rooney, who always seems to have a strong match against Chelsea.

Sir Alex seemed to be in a relaxed mood during his press conference but he still managed to call a Spanish journalist an idiot (the journalist had asked SAF about the latest Ronaldo to Real Madrid rumour), and told another reporter from GMTV that she was nosy. The edge in experience and in-game adjustments has to go to SAF and that could play a large part in today's proceedings. Chelsea - who boast six previous Champions League winners in their squad - have the experience edge.

I'll be back after the game to give my thoughts on what happened and opinion on why they turned out the way the did.

Image taken from Associated Press.

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After mulling it over for a few days, I've decided against live blogging during tomorrow's match as I find that for myself I am better able to soak in the match when I am not distracted with blogging. I pick up more of the nuances of the play and tactical details that I miss when trying to live blog. I do enjoy being online and chatting with people during a match but I want to focus on the football tomorrow and I feel that live blogging would not allow me to do that to the fullest. Besides that, there are several other sources for live match updates if you're unable to watch the game live but want to keep informed. Here are a few:

BBC Live Scores
UEFA MatchCentre
ESPN Soccernet GameCast

The Sun live radio coverage
Manchester United radio coverage

I'll post my thoughts after the match and give some analysis of what went right or wrong for both clubs. I will also announce my "awards" and "team of the season". Enjoy the match !!

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Chelsea have a major scare ahead of tomorrow's Champions League final after Ashley Cole was the victim of a stupid two-footed sliding challenge from team-mate Claude Makelele. Cole was helped off the field by two of Chelsea's training staff, who sprayed his ankle before wrapping it to give it support. After a few more minutes of attempting to practice, Cole left the training session early and will be a game-time decision. Video of the incident is available on YouTube.

Wayne Bridge would be the replacement at left-back but has only made two Champions League appearances this season. Fortunately for the Blues, they have no other injury worries as both John Terry and Didier Drogba have overcome injury worries in time for tomorrow's match.

Update: Cole will apparently start the match but how he will fare remains to be seen.

Image taken from The Sun

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Slovakian referee Lubos Michel will take charge of the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea. Michel, you may recall, was the referee who awarded a highly-controversial goal (I'm still unsure!) to Liverpool against Chelsea in the semi-finals of the competition in 2005. The Daily Mail also mentions that Michel drew criticism from Martin O'Neill after he took charge of the 2003 UEFA Cup Final between Porto and Celtic. Michel was accused of poor officiating after sending off Celtic defender Bobo Balde for a second bookable offence during the Scots' 3-2 defeat in Seville.

UEFA have confirmed that Michel, who celebrated his 40th birthday last Friday, will be assisted by countrymen Roman Slysko (34) and Martin Balko (36) with another Slovakian, Vladimir Hrinak, acting as the fourth official.

Will this turn out to be a bad omen for Chelsea? I doubt it as Michel is recognized as one of the top referees in the world and has officiated at the highest levels, including both Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. Language barriers should not be a problem as Michel reportedly speaks English, Russian, German and Polish in addition to his native Slovakian.

Yahoo! Eurosport reports that Michel has been known to take a hard line on diving, so Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba will have to be on their toes - as opposed to their backsides - in the Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday night.

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Are you getting pumped for the big match tomorrow? Are you devouring every scrap of information available? I can't say that I've read all the articles published but I do enjoy the hype leading up to this match. Unlike our colleagues over at EPL Talk, I don't think there has been too much hype.

Like the Super Bowl, this is a major showcase event for the sport and it's only natural that every major news source would want to put their spin on the event. I don't think the coverage has changed much for this event. During the domestic season, each newspaper runs two to three articles on the big games of the week.

Anyhow, here are some of my favourite links building up to tomorrow's final:

• BBC Photo Gallery of both teams and their fans arriving in Moscow
• 12 European Cup classics via YouTube, et al
• No video but a countdown of the Top 30 Champions League and European Cup moments according to the Telegraph
• Martin Jol's analysis of the final
• A piece from uefa.com reflecting on the Luzhniki Stadium tragedy
• Will the pitch be playable? New grass from Slovakia has been laid but will it be in good shape for tomorrow?
• Another good one from Reuters (via 442): Stats, facts and pub ammo
• With statements like this, Drogba's appearance on Wednesday could be his last in a Chelsea shirt
• Platini clamps down on clubs in debt
• Kevin McCarra wrote a tribute piece on Paul Scholes that I enjoyed

In closing this post, I'm going to let my bias show. I'm an admitted Manchester United fan, have been since '97 when I first started getting into soccer heavily. I am excited that they are back in the final and am hoping they can win it. I'm not a blind loyalist and I realize that Chelsea are quite capable of winning tomorrow. I don't think they will but we shall see. Anyhow, in honor of their last finals appearance here are those amazing final moments of the 1999 final against Bayern Munich. It was an unbelievable final and it should have been the first of many CL titles for United.

I'll be posting a couple of more articles before tomorrow's final but I have decided against liveblogging the event. I'll try to explain why in a separate post later today.

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