Mean defence could make Bayern kings

With Liverpool's victory over Alaves last week threatening to change forever the way we think about European finals between strongly defensive sides who thrive on the counter attack, tonight's Champions League final may have arrived just in the nick of time.

The meeting of Bayern Munich and Valencia at Milan's San Siro this evening promises a great many things but, with two of Europe's most capable defences clearly believing that their hour has come, a surfeit of goals doesn't appear to be one of them.

At their final press conferences yesterday Valencia's manager Hector Cuper and Bayern's Ottmar Hitzfeld each suggested that a single goal might be enough to decide which of the competition's most recently beaten finalists go home with smiles on their faces this time.

Both, in fact, have enough talent in attack to suggest that unattached spectators might fare a little better than that, but 4-4 with a crazy own goal to decide it in extra time? Ask a bookie to give you odds and savour the expression of a confectionery thief who has stumbled unwittingly upon an unsuspecting infant.

Neither team boss gave much away concerning their starting line-ups yesterday but the pair did express enough respect for the other's ability to organise a defence to suggest that left to their own devices they would simply shake hands and move straight to penalties.

Cuper is increasingly expected to forsake one creative influence in the centre of midfield by switching Gaizka Mendieta to the right flank and do without another altogether at the outset by leaving Pablo Aimar on the bench.

That might open the door to Didier Deschamps, but the chances are that the Valencia boss will opt for the more solidly disruptive influences of Ruben Baraja and David Albelda in front of his defence, an approach that would leave a huge amount depending on the ability of Mendieta and Kily Gonzalez to get behind the Germans out on the wings.

It's an approach that has paid dividends for one of his strikers, with Juan Sanchez, an irregular marksman in previous seasons, having scored 12 in 29 appearances last summer. Cuper's main concern, however, is the form of John Carew, the big Norweigan striker who, despite looking awkward and having an occasional stinker had performed well until early March, but has since scored just once.

Yesterday, though, Cuper was careful to spread the blame for the 21 year-old's difficulties, observing that, "it is important for the team as a whole to have certain balances right, because when they are not (balanced) you are not always ready to score".

Indeed the Norwegian is not the only one struggling to find the net at the club right now but his recent form will do little to worry Patrik Andersson or his fellow Bayern defenders.

Hitzfeld, meanwhile, looks set to rely on as many as possible of the players who beat Real Madrid away three weeks ago, with English under-21 international Owen Hargreaves the most likely replacement for the injured Jens Jeremies.

Bayern's coach conceded that the weight of expectation around a club that has not won this competition for 25 years is a problem both for him and his players. However "everybody is proud to play for a club considered so strong that it is always rated amongst the favourites for cups and leagues," he said.

"Games like this are an opportunity for us all to live up to the tradition at the club, we all know that and the players want to win also because they want to be able to say that they belong to the very best group of teams in Europe."

Bayern's two defeats of Real this month must certainly have left their opponents somewhat unnerved this evening. Valencia lie eight points adrift of the Spanish champions in la Liga, having lost to them in both league meetings this season.

But Hitzfeld insists that Cuper's side is better organised at the back than Real's, a claim supported by a glance at the goals against column in the Spanish championship table.

Bayern have a knack for producing goals from all areas of the pitch, however, and a confidence in their own ability that was underlined over the weekend when they dramatically rescued the Bundesliga title after conceding a 90th minute goal that almost handed it to Schalke.

It was the sort of single-mindedness that prompted Stefan Effenberg to reply, "never give up," when asked his club's recipe for success.

"That," he added, "is the basic element of the team. No matter how late the game goes on we are all ready to do something dramatic to change things." Only after a brief pause did he acknowledge that it's a trick they may have picked up from Manchester United's winning display against them at this stage two years ago.

A trait that might be crucial again tonight.

Teams (possible).

Bayern Munich: Kahn; Kuffour, Andersson, Linke; Sagnol, Salihamidzic, Effenberg, Hargreaves, Lizarazu; Scholl, Elber.

Valencia: Canizares; Angloma, Ayala, Pellegrino, Carboni; Mendieta, Albelda, Baraja, Gonzalez; Carew, Sanchez.