RICARDO CARVALHO will put aside all thoughts about his own future in order to concentrate on winning his second Champions League medal by stopping Cristiano Ronaldo.
Defender Carvalho has already made it known that he is unsure about his own future at Stamford Bridge, but the Portugal international would prefer to concentrate on helping Chelsea overcome Manchester United in Moscow next Wednesday.
Chelsea lost
the Barclays Premier League race to United on Sunday when Sir Alex Ferguson's side beat Wigan and the Blues could only draw with Bolton.
But Carvalho, who lifted the Champions League trophy with Porto in 2004, insists United's success in the league does not give them the upper hand going into the game.
The 29-year-old defender believes that, with the help of his team-mates, it will be 'easy' to stop United's 31-goal winger from smashing their Champions League dreams.
"Ronaldo has been fantastic for the Premier League," said Carvalho. "We have to try to not give him too much space. It is difficult to stop him but if you focus and work with your team-mates, it will be easy."
"Sunday was disappointing, but now we have to look forward to playing the final. It is an important game for the players and the club.
"The last few days will be more difficult, when you start to think about the game.
"In my first final, we got the result and I got the cup. It was a fantastic day. The Champions League is the best you can get as a player with a club.
"Playing United is going to be very tough. They have shown what a great team they are this season but we really want to win this trophy. As players we want to deliver this for the fans.
"Over the last few years whenever we have played against United it has always been difficult. But we have shown that we can beat them.
"We played excellent football at Stamford Bridge in the league when we won 2-1 and we beat them in the FA Cup final last season.
"It doesn't matter who wins the league, this is the Champions League. We will arrive in Moscow confident we can win.
"We have not got to think about the last game of the season – just focus on the final. To miss out on the league was difficult for us. Now we have to win the Champions League and we have to be prepared.
"The Premier League season was good, but we just could not recover enough points.
"But now we have a Champions League final to play and just have to focus on that."
Carvalho has been nursing a back injury but insists he will be fully fit by the time the final arrives.
"I think I will be okay," he added. "I have a few more days to recover and should be 100%."
Chelsea coach Avram Grant, meanwhile, believes he has proved to the fans he is the master of the tactical substitution.
The 52-year-old Israeli coach was abused by a section of supporters earlier this season when he was taunted from the stands with cries of 'You don't know what you're doing' when they disagreed with many of his substitutions in big games. But victories over Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United were achieved with tactical switches and the addition of other players at the right time and Grant will not be afraid to do the same against United in Wednesday night's Champions League final in Moscow.
"First of all I was happy with how we started those games but in all of them something happened and we needed to make a change – I think we did it well," Grant said.
"Against Arsenal we brought on Nicolas Anelka and Juliano Belletti and changed the system. We scored two goals to win the game and could have scored more.
"Then at Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, we brought on Salomon Kalou and Anelka and got back into the game. It was Kalou who crossed for the own goal while Anelka pressed John Arne Riise.
"With United, we brought on Anelka, Andriy] Shevchenko and then Claude] Makelele at the right time after they scored from our mistake. We finished the game with three strikers and scored a late goal to win it.
"And it was the same sort of game again for the second leg with Liverpool. We were much stronger but then they scored and we had to make changes.
"Everybody thought they would be fresher because we had just had a big game against United but we brought on Florent Malouda and Anelka to change the system and we deserved the win.
"In big games, changing the players or the system at the right time is one of the best ways to win the game when you know your opponents so well."
EMULATING AJAXSir Alex Ferguson believes Manchester United can win Wednesday's Champions League final and eventually go on to equal Ajax and Bayern Munich's record of four European Cup wins. United, with victories in 1968 and 1999, are seeking their third triumph in Moscow.
Ferguson said: "This is an opportunity to add to the other two we've won and this team could catch up others. Real Madrid's nine cup victories is amazing. It would be hard to catch that. Not in my lifetime, anyway. AC Milan is another one. But Liverpool have won it five times, Ajax and Bayern four times and it is possible to catch those three."
CHELSEA SEEK FIRST WINChelsea's only European successes have come in the now defunct European Cup-Winners' Cup. They won the trophy in 1971 when they defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in a replay in Athens following a 1-1 draw. Dempsey and Osgood scored the goals. The captured the trophy again in 1998 when Zola scored the only goal of the game against VfB Stuttgart in Stockholm.
TARTAN TRIUMPH Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher is hoping to be the first Scot to get his hands on a Champions League winner's medal since Paul Lambert in 1997. The former Scotland captain was part of the Borussia Dortmund side which defeated Juventus 3-1 in Munich. The Edinburgh-born Fletcher is unlikely to start for United but is expected to be among the substitutes.
ALL-ENGLISH FINAL This is the first time two teams from England have contested the final of Europe's biggest club competition but clubs from south of the Border have met before in a Euro final. In 1971 Tottenham Hotspur faced Wolverhampton Wanderers in the two-legged finale of the inaugural UEFA Cup. Spurs prevailed, thanks to a 2-1 win at Molineux in the first leg and a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane in the return.
The full article contains 1155 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
