Cole injury scare for Chelsea ahead of Champions League final

11:26 Wed 21 May 2008

Manchester United take on Chelsea tonight in Moscow in the first ever all English Champions League final. Will it be a classic final characterised by end to end attacking football, or a dour hour and a half with both teams waiting for their opponents to make a false move?

Chelsea's preparations were dealt a blow yesterday when England defender and scorer of hairdressers Ca$hley Cole was injured in a tackle by team mate Claude Makelele during the Blues training session. Cole is clearly not the most likeable footballer on the planet, so there will be a lot of people that will enjoy the delicious schadenfreude of Makelele's two footed lunge during a game of five-a-side.

If Cole doesn't recover his place in the starting line-up will go to the Juventus bound - if the rumour mill is to be believed - Wayne Bridge, while Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry and Didier Drogba are all expected to shake off niggling injuries to line out for Chelsea.

United a full squad to choose from but will have to cut his 24-man squad to 18 for the final. Nemanja Vidic has recovered from injury and will start along with Paul Scholes. Ferguson has hinted that Ji-Sung Park may also start in place of Giggs or Nani which seems to suggest that the final will turn out to be a defensive snorefest.

Man Utd squad: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Heaton; Brown, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Neville, O'Shea, Pique, Silvestre, Anderson, Fletcher, Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Nani, Park, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Saha, Welbeck.

Chelsea squad: Cech, Hilario, Cudicini, Belletti, Ferreira, Alex, Ben-Haim, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole, Bridge, Makelele, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Kalou, Wright-Phillips, J Cole, Malouda, Drogba, Shevchenko, Anelka, Mikel.

Makelele crocks Ashley Cole