Whether Manchester United or Chelsea lift the trophy, let's hope the real winner is English football

Manchester United and Chelsea go head to head in pursuit of the most sought-after prize in club football tonight at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow at the heart of Russia.

This is the perfect moment for English football to showcase its true worth as the best league in the world in front of a global audience by living up to the hype surrounding this first all-English Champions League final.

The stage is set for the top two teams in England to prove that Euro 2008 will be boring without English involvement. Both teams possess massive English talents in Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, John Terry and Frank Lampard. The tournament will be poorer for not having them in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

Most of the talk among fans and media alike is of who will win the game, but there are two sides to this clash. The first will see both clubs hoping to prove the English game is worthy of the very top level of football. The second is down to the fans. This is the perfect opportunity to shake off the world-renowned hooligan tag that still surrounds the English game.