Chelsea's Frank Lampard walks past the Champions League trophy before a press conference at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow yesterday. - AP photos

MOSCOW (AP):

MANCHESTER UNITED held off Chelsea's late charge in the Premier League title race. Now the Red Devils are out to reassert their dominance on a global stage in the Champions League final.

United's half-century of European history goes up against the spending power of Chelsea and their Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium today in the first final between two English clubs.

Although English teams won the title - then called the European Cup - six times in a row between 1977 and '82, this is the first time the trophy is guaranteed to wind up in England.

Chelsea will argue they could have won the very first one in 1955.

The Football League wouldn't let Chelsea enter the first European Cup on the basis that the domestic competition should take precedence. Now the Blues have finally made it to the final and Abramovich, whose millions have helped bring two domestic titles and turned Chelsea into a powerhouse, can savour the moment in his own country.

Third European Cup title

Chelsea's opponent is very familiar - the same Manchester United team that has beaten the Blues to the English title the past two years and is owned by American businessman Malcolm Glazer and his sons.

Instead of facing AC Milan's Kaka or Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Chelsea will again go up against Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez. United won their first meeting 2-0 at Old Trafford in September - Grant's first game in charge after he replaced Jose Mourinho - and Chelsea won 2-1 at Stamford Bridge last month.

Manager Alex Ferguson's United are going for a third European Cup title, to add to their triumphs in 1968 and 1999. He believes the team should have won more.

"I have said many times the history of this illustrious club is not matched in terms of the number of trophies it has won," he said yesterday. "I hope we will go some way towards making that better tomorrow night."

Manchester United's Carlos Tevez (left) takes the ball from Ryan Giggs during a training session at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow yesterday.

While United's tradition in European soccer goes back to the days of Matt Busby and the team which was decimated by the Munich air crash 50 years ago, Chelsea are a comparative newcomer. Apart from two triumphs in the now defunct Cup Winners Cup, the Blues have never made it to the final of the premier competition despite reaching four semi-finals in five seasons.

Grant acknowledges the contribution of Abramovich, who bought the club in 2003.

"Chelsea without Roman Abramovich is not the Chelsea that you see today. He's the most important man in the history of Chelsea because he put his money and organisation here," Grant said. "He wants to improve the team. In football, money alone will not bring success, but without money it is not so easy."

"He comes from here, from Moscow," Grant added. "He has always dreamed of being in the final here but it is a dream of every supporter of Chelsea to be in the final for the first time."

Reputation

Grant, whose future as Chelsea manager is in doubt even if the Blues win today, believes the club has built a reputation as being one of European soccer's giants and will maintain it.

"We are a big team now already, but we are creating a tradition here," he said. "Chelsea didn't have a tradition, so that started a few years ago when (Claudio) Ranieri reached the semi-final - the club's first semi-final of the Champions League. When you want to be a big club, you have to be between the lions of Europe. Now we want more and you will see in the next years that this will not be the last time we will be in the final."