Champions League Final: The Premier League's Showpiece, or Its Downfall?

My suitcase is packed, and the Russian phrase book is ready. Yes, I will be in Moscow on Wednesday when, for one night only, the Luzhniki Stadium will become Wembley as England’s top two battle for the prize.

It’s the first time two sides from England have contested the Champions League final, and only the third time ever that two teams from the same country have met in the showpiece event.

For the Premier League, it’s the chance to prove that ours is the best league in the world. Having had three teams in the semi finals, it’s down to Chelsea and Manchester United to show the world what England has to offer.

There are a couple of problems with all this, however.

Firstly, out of the 22 players taking part on Wednesday, there are expected to be at most eight English players on the field.

This, when combined with the fact that the two likeliest match-winners (Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo), hail from the Ivory Coast and Portugal, respectively, makes you wonder just how much of an English input there really is.

In addition, if last year’s FA Cup final is anything to go by, it will not be the prettiest of encounters, and not the sort of free-flowing football UEFA want to give the world.

But that is down to just how well these two sides know each other. Given the size of the occasion, it will no doubt be very tight.

Rounding off the worries for the final—the pitch.

Ever since the controversial artificial surface was replaced with real turf, there have been concerns over the standard of the surface. These have now been realised when the head groundsman at the stadium admitted the pitch is no better than the average Championship surface and was “very disappointed."

This again doesn’t increase optimism about an attractive game in Moscow, but on the night all this will be forgotten. Moscow wants to show the world it’s ready to host global sporting events again, and football fans from Manchester and London will be hoping to banish the memory of those scenes after the UEFA Cup Final last week.

It’s a shame only 21,000 fans for both teams will be inside a stadium that will hold nearly 70,000 on the night. But that is the reality of a UEFA event. Europe’s governing body would rather please sponsors than fans of a sport that is already overrun with money.

UEFA will realise too late that that they are killing football, and we can only hope the action on the pitch makes fans come back for more.

So on to Moscow, and a piece of history either way. There are poignant stories on both sides and whoever wins will be a worthy European Champion.

But through my blue-tinted glasses I say 2-0 to Chelsea, with Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard giving the Blues their first Champions League triumph.

Spasiba. That’s "thank you very much" in Russian. I knew that phrase book would come in handy…