BY THE NUMBERS FINAL FACTS AND FIGURES

Previous European finals

Manchester Utd - Played 3 Won 3

May 29th, 1968: European Cup v Benfica 4-1 (aet) in London

May 15th, 1991: Cup Winners' Cup v Barcelona 2-1 in Rotterdam

May 26th, 1999: Champions League v Bayern Munich 2-1 in Barcelona

Chelsea - Played 2 Won 2

May 21st, 1971: Cup Winners' Cup v Real Madrid 2-1 in Athens (after 1-1 draw aet in Athens on May 19th)

May 13th 1998: Cup Winners' Cup v VfB Stuttgart 1-0 in Stockholm

Champions League record this season

Manchester Utd- P12, W9, D3, L 0

(Goals for 19, against 5)

Chelsea- P12, W6, D5, L 1

(Goals for 19, against 7)

Leading Champions League scorers this season

Manchester United(Ronaldo 7, Rooney 4, Tevez 4, Pique 2)

Chelsea(Drogba 6, Lampard 3, Ballack 2, J Cole 2)

• Manchester United have not played a another English team in European competition for more than 40 years. The last such tie was against Everton in the third round of the Fairs Cup in 1964-65, United winning 3-2 on aggregate.

• By contrast, Chelsea are constantly drawn against English opponents. They have played Liverpool eight times in the last four seasons, all in the Champions League, and met Arsenal twice in the same competition in the 2003-04 season. Before that they beat Manchester City at home and away in the 1971 Cup Winners Cup semi-finals. In 12 matches against English teams, they have won five and lost only two.

• United have never scored in the first half of a final. Five of their eight goals in finals came in the second half, including, famously, two in time added on to beat Bayern in 1999, and three extra time against Benfica in 1968.

• Chelsea have never fallen behind in a European final. They went ahead in both of their 1971 games against Real Madrid and scored the only goal against Stuttgart in 1998.

• Manchester United's only previous game in Moscow ended badly. They drew 0-0 after extra time with Torpedo in the first round of the Uefa Cup in 1991-92 and went out on penalties.

• Chelsea won their only match in Moscow, beating CSKA 1-0 in the 2004-05 Champions League group stage.

• United have not conceded a goal in their last five Champions League matches. It is 486 minutes since Karim Benzema gave Olympique Lyon the lead in the first leg of the knockout round on February 20th in France.

• United have kept clean sheets in eight of their 12 Champions League games this season. Chelsea have kept seven.

• This will be the third same-country final in the Champions League following the all-Spanish clash between Real Madrid and Valencia in Paris in 2000, which Real won 3-0, and the all-Italian match between AC Milan and Juventus in Manchester in 2003 which Milan won 3-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

• Tonight's final will be the 53rd since the competition started in 1955-56 and England are guaranteed an 11th success, bringing them level with Italy and Spain as the most successful countries. They will also win a 29th success in the three European club competitions, equalling Spain's record.

• Alex Ferguson will become the 16th man to win the European Cup more than once if United triumph, following his success in 1999. He would also set a record of winning longevity in European club competition - he won his first European trophy, the Cup Winners' Cup, with Aberdeen in 1983.

• Ferguson will become, at 66, the second-oldest man to win the trophy if United triumph. The oldest is Belgian Raymond Goethals who was 71 when Marseille won in 1993.

• Avram Grant would become the first Israeli, either as a coach or player, to win the European Cup.

• Six players in the two squads will be looking to win the European Cup with a second club. United's Edwin van der Sar won it with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995 while Owen Hargreaves won it with Bayern Munich in 2001. Chelsea's four previous winners are Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira (both Porto 2004), Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan 2003) and Claude Makelele (Real Madrid 2002).