This Wednesday sees the first ever all-England European Cup final as Chelsea take on Manchester United in Moscow.

The game is a close one to call though critics and bookies alike are erring towards a Man Utd victory.

It is 50 years since the tragic Munich accident that took the lives of many of the Manchester United players managed by Matt Busby. The ‘Busby Babes’ oozed quality and youth and were predicted to win the European Cup that year. It took Matt Busby and Man Utd 10 years to build another successful European team and to win the European Cup. Busby built another exciting attacking footballing side around Bobby Charlton (a survivor of the Munich aircrash), George Best and Denis Law. In 1968 they beat Benfica after extra-time at Wembley.

In 1999 Man Utd won the treble, including a late 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich.

On the other hand, Chelsea have never won the European Cup, though they have reached the semi-finals several times in the past few years. But they recently beat Man Utd at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League, and won the FA Cup last season - the last time the teams played on a neutral ground.

Many European finals are a let down. The hype never quite lives up to what every neutral is hoping for, a high scoring, exciting, open match. More than ever, this will be a cat & mouse battle as both teams, players & managers know each other’s game.  So it could be heading for a game where both sets of players cancel each other out.

I am already looking forward to the game. So let’s hope the final will be a great game of football.