Euro goal gives final added value

As the English season has come to a close a certain sparkle has been lost. A combination of Manchester United's Premiership omnipotence, United's, Leeds' and Arsenal's failings in Europe, and the terrifying spectre that, from Istanbul to Rotherham and from Wigan to Copenhagen, football hooliganism is once again back in fashion among English fans, has had a dulling, corrosive effect. If ever the game needed an FA Cup final to remember, it is this afternoon.

Relying on the Cup final to round of a season in style is, however, a risky exercise. We only need to think of the last two, when Newcastle United capitulated twice, to recall the sense of anti-climax. But, in a perverse way, in the last FA Cup final to be staged at the old Wembley stadium, we should be guaranteed a match. For the next three years the FA Cup will be nomadic. It would be heart-warming to think that in these cynical days of superannuated players, simply winning the last Wembley FA Cup was enough of a spur, that the tradition built up over seven decades, from the "White Horse" final of 1923, actually meant something in itself. It would also be naive. The reason Aston Villa and Chelsea should hurtle at each other today is that the winners are ensured of European football next season.

In one less enticing sense, so are the losers. Both Chelsea and Villa have entered the InterToto Cup in case they fail this afternoon, but as West Ham found out last year, it means a very early start to the season. The first match in the InterToto is on Saturday July 15th, less than a fortnight after Euro 2000 finishes, which, given Chelsea's array of internationals, means a very short summer holiday indeed.

But, if it has to be this way, Gianluca Vialli has told his players that he wants to select from a full squad. The Chelsea captain Dennis Wise, sure to be in England's Euro party, said: "If it means we don't get a holiday, so be it. Luca said he would expect everyone to be involved. We get an extra couple of weeks if we are not in it. That is an extra incentive. Otherwise we are back early - very early.

"It is something we do not want to be involved in. It is not a place for Chelsea to be. The club needs, financially, to be in European competition and it is our job to do that." If not for Wise, for others today, Chelsea's 61st match of the season represents something of a final fling. Several players, including Gianfranco Zola, Didier Deschamps, Frank Leboeuf and Dan Petrescu, are expected, and are expecting, to leave Stamford Bridge over the next few weeks as Vialli begins the reconstruction of a club that can challenge for the Premiership. George Weah, another with uncertain prospects, may play instead of Tore Andre Flo or Chris Sutton.

Chelsea's malaise should, in theory, give Villa something of an advantage, but the Birmingham side find themselves 2/1 underdogs. They lost at Chelsea 1-0 last August and drew 0-0 at Villa Park in January. But the FA Cup has been fundamental in the turnaround of Villa's season. Drawn against the Cup's "Lucky Losers", Darlington, in the third round in December, John Gregory went into the game with a large question mark over his future. Villa had been stumbling in the league, but won 2-1 and re-activated themselves.

Three Premiership teams, Southampton, Leeds and Everton, were then overcome before Villa won a dour semi-final with Bolton on penalties. They are the first Villa team to reach an FA Cup final for 43 years. Gregory has a fully fit squad to choose from, with Ian Taylor and George Boateng likely to be the central midfield pairing. For Benito Carbone, the afternoon could decide whether he is at Villa next season.

A Villa victory - and European football matters to them - would make paying Carbone's enormous salary easier, and might also act as the same sort of launch pad the 1997 Cup triumph was for Chelsea. "They are probably in the same position we were in three years ago," said Wise.

Then, Chelsea beat Middlesbrough and their progression has been marked ever since. Until the last few weeks. Now Chelsea have the chance to redeem their season. Aston Villa can make theirs. European football may be the last Wembley final's historic ingredient. The FA Cup could be on the verge of an international rescue.