FA Cup, Champions League finals close out the season

	Michael Essien (right) and Chelsea get one more shot at Gabriel Heinze and champion Man United in Saturday's FA Cup final. Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
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There's only one place you'll find Frank Sinatra offering Thai takeout and the return of the Elephant Man. Manchester United may be the champion of England, but make the most noise for your hosts, Team Limey ...

Champions, Champions rang around Old Trafford last Sunday as Manchester United celebrated its ninth English Premier League title. But the loudest cheer of the day came from the visiting West Ham fans, as their team grabbed the three points that kept it in the top flight for another season.

Concurrently, Sheffield United's home defeat to Wigan saw it drop from the EPL along with already relegated Charlton and Watford. With the league wrapped up, the forthcoming FA Cup Final and European Champions League final are this week's focus. If we ever stop getting distracted by the SI.com swimsuit pages.

Wednesday night's Champions League final in Athens is the grand finale of the European season. Except that several leagues won't have finished by then. And the event is somewhat of a misnomer given that Liverpool and AC Milan both qualified for the tournament by finishing third in their respective leagues.

Still, it looks like a jolly good show anyway, and one which Team Limey will be breaking open the Heineken to watch. Not that we're taken in by their incessant advertising in every commercial break.

It's a game that seems to confirm how poor the English tabloid papers are, or how much stay their writers place in the importance of arbitrary coincidence -- which amounts to much the same thing. Yes, it's a rematch of the 2005 final. Yes that was a classic, with Milan leading 3-0 at halftime before Liverpool leveled the game and later won on penalties. But no, that does not mean that the '07 final will necessarily be a great spectacle.

It's certainly an interesting contest, though: a very fluid Milan team poised against a tightly organized Liverpool side. A Milan team with great strength in developing play through the middle against a Liverpool side that enjoys sending long balls out wide. And the pre-match banter has certainly been flowing from the San Siro.

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti described Liverpool as being "technically, the worst team of the three English sides who reached the semifinals," following the similar taunt from midfield terrier Gennaro Gattuso that the Reds are inferior to Milan's semifinal opponent, Manchester United.

"I feel there is a noticeable difference in talent between Manchester United and Liverpool," Gattuso said. "United has far more technical players, who are quick and able to do things on the ball. Liverpool does not have those individuals. Liverpool is like an Italian team of 10 years ago: every ball a long ball."

José Mourinho tried and failed to play mind games with Liverpool prior to their semifinal. Will Wednesday night see the Rossoneri brushing up on Proverbs 16:18 and its maxim: "pride comes before a fall"?