Fuente: © Chelsea FC
http://www.chelseafc.com/

THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME

/noticias.info/ Two sides who know each other better than most will go head-to-head in Moscow in a week's time but Avram Grant doesn't anticipate familiarity breeding an uneventful game.

For pointers to how next Wednesday's match go, the Chelsea manager is looking to this season rather than last year's FA Cup Final - which delighted Blues followers but isn't cherished by neutral spectators.

'The Final of the Champions League is sometimes a very good game, or sometimes they are like the game in Manchester (between AC Milan and Juventus) which was a boring game,' says Grant.

'I think in this case there are two good teams and you saw the game the last time between us, it was a good game.

'Also you saw our game in the semi-final against Liverpool. That was a good game and I think this one will be as well - but you never know.

'Tactically this game is one of the easiest ones because everybody knows everybody. I don't think Alex [Ferguson] will suprise me with anything and I don't think I will surprise him. We know their weakness, we know their strengths, and we don't need to motivate the players either.'

Grant was speaking after taking charge of Wednesday's training session, the first since the final league game on Sunday. He had some good news.

'Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry and Didier Drogba trained today and I don't think there will be any doubt they will play, unless something happens in the next week, which you never know at Chelsea.'

He selects Liverpool's fightback in Istanbul as the most exciting Champions League Final he has seen ('I don't think even Liverpool thought they would draw') and hopes the travelling Chelsea fans next week will have an equally memorable occasion.

'This is the most important game of the season in Europe, and in the world I think, so everybody wants to be there.

'We know that more than 20,000 of our fans are going to come to the Final. It is not a cheap deal I hear to come to Russia, it costs a lot of money, but still we have more people that want to come than tickets we can give.

'Our fans were magnificent in the week we won against Manchester United and then Liverpool. They were more than our 12th player, and I am sure we will hear them in Moscow.'

Before that, it is full steam ahead with the match preparations.

'We will train like we always do plus we will work on things we need to do in the game,' details Grants

'You are always clear about 80-90 per cent of your team selection but you want to see in training who is in good form and who is not. I think in training you can see everything.

'Every time we haven't played well and we have not won a game, the game after we have shown strength and won. We are not happy only to make this final. We want to make more finals, but first we have a game next Wednesday.'


A full range of Road To Moscow merchandise is available on from the Megastore at Stamford Bridge or online. notas_de_prensa_archivo