It seems that every player has something to say ahead of Champions League final. But who'll come out tops in Moscow?
Rather than have to trawl through all the trash talk which will essentially count for nothing when the game kicks off, read on for all the comments bundled into one easy-to-read article before Wednesday night's super clash between Chelsea and Manchester United.
Saloman Kalou doesn’t get to speak to the press all that often, so should we forgive him for his ridiculous utterance that Nemanja Vidic is the defender that Chelsea should be targeting if they are to beat Manchester United in the Champions League final in Moscow.
"We still believe that there is some weakness in their defence and that we can exploit that and score some goals," said the Ivory Coast international.
"Vidic has not played a lot because he has been injured, so that could be a weak point for them and it is up to us to play well and score a goal."
Perhaps he’s just upset that the Serbian’s thoughts ahead of the match are dominated by Didier Drogba, and not him. The central defender has done a ‘Rafael Benitez’ by claiming that the Ivorian goes down more quickly than Derby County.
"Sometimes he [Drogba] goes in very strong and sometimes he pretends he is weak. He plays with your mind and tries to make the defender think about the next tackle.
"He can pretend he fell down to win a penalty, but referees know that. The Champions League final is a big game and I'm sure the ref will know his job."
Meanwhile, Petr Cech is stoking up the proverbial fires by claiming that United winning the Premier League title might make them complacent. If indeed there was any probability of this happening, surely you don’t want to bleat about it in the Press?
"Maybe they will be more relaxed and this could be the advantage for us because we have to remember the feeling of going so close and ending up so disappointed."
Or maybe the Red Devils will feel that teensy bit more confident than their opponents after retaining their title crown. Hard to imagine they’ll be too phased by a team who were held to a 1-1 draw with Bolton on the final day of the season.
Joe Cole is getting a bit over-excited ahead of the match, claiming it’s nothing less than ‘war’ as far as he’s concerned.
"Michael [Carrick] and Rio [Ferdinand] know I love them but Wednesday night will be war," said Cole.
Yes Joe, it will be war. Apart from the fact that nobody will be killed and it’s just 22 men kicking a football around a park. And what’s this over in the red corner? The cool-as-a-cucumber Wayne Rooney having a go at Drogba’s temperament:
“Sometimes he seems as if his head’s not quite there,” the Manchester United forward said.
‘Wazza’ has just the 13 yellow cards to his name this season after keeping a level head at all times. This surpassed the 2006/7 tally by two and he’s apparently confident of landing 15 cautions and a cheeky red into the bargain next term.
Sadly, England won’t be featuring in Euro 2008 where Rooney was hoping to emulate his 2006 achievement of a dismissal for stamping on an opponent.
The ‘war of words’ is sure to continue right up until kick-off. Expect Rio Ferdinand to criticise Chelsea for being boring to watch, Frank Lampard to slam United for being too over-reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo and Owen Hargreaves to claim that beating their opponents will be ‘a piece of p**s’. Credit: www.sportingo.com
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