MG Sports Talk

Rome, Italy - Stadio Olimpico is the stage for tonight’s 17th UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester United FC and FC Barcelona (8:45pm local time).

Cristiano Ronaldo and Man U will have a chance to make history with a win tonight, solidifying back-to-back Champions League trophies for the first time in the Champions League era. Lionel Messi and Barca will do their best to make sure the English powerhouse does not walk away with more hardware. Barcelona, the 2006 UEFA champs, instead will look to add to their trophy collection, having already secured La Liga and the Copa del Rey this year. The Catalans would be the first team in Spanish history to have won all 3 prizes and Messi should be a big part of that. All of this after stunning England’s Chelsea in extra time during the 2nd leg aggregate of the UEFA semifinals at Stamford Bridge. The Blues could almost smell the polenta but Andreas Iniesta turned the tides, scoring in the 93rd minute on Petr Cech. Man U beat out Premier League rival Arsenal in their semifinal aggregate.

Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola expects recent hero Iniesta and Frenchmen Thierry Henry  to play for this evening, each overcoming injuries in earlier matches, although both are game-time decisions. Starting fullbacks Daniel Alves and Eric Abidal will serve suspensions during the final but Barca has plenty of talent to sustain. On the other side, the all-white United will be without suspended Darren Fletcher but can expect a return from captain Rio Ferdinand from his calf injury.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, in his 35th year at the helm, is confident his Manchester squad will be making history this Wednesday, “We’re good at doing things first”. No doubt, the stars will be shining tonight in the Eternal City. This is being rumored as potentially the best UEFA Championship ever! Don’t miss it. Replay on ESPN2 at 11:30 pm EST/8:30 pm PST.

The vegas line for tonight’s game couldn’t be closer. Each team is evenly matched at -120 on the moneyline, a draw is at +200 and the Over/Under is 2 1/2 goals.

I like Manchester United’s chances and have the English club going back to back.   LEAVE YOUR PICKS HERE!

Tags: Andrea Iniesta, Arsenal, Chelsea FC, Cristiano Ronaldo, Daniel Alves, Darren Fletcher, Eric Abidal, FC Barcelona, Josep Guardiola, Lionel Messi, Manchester United, Petr Cech, Rio Ferdinand, Sir Alex Ferguson, Thierry Henry, UEFA Champions League | This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Gerame's Take, Soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.