Classy Milan to drain Pool

But that was exactly what most pundits were saying before the quarter-final and semi-final and yet, here we are, with Liverpool - marooned outside the top four of the Premiership - in the final.

But surely they cannot see off a cool, sophisticated and above all obscenely talented Milan side in Istanbul, can they?

Milan's form going into the final is not great - having not won in the last four games (two defeats, two draws) - and there is the psychological blow of having been pipped to the scudetto by Juventus.

But I for one simply cannot see them slipping up against a Liverpool side that are nothing out of the ordinary.

Admittedly, the Champions League version of the Liverpool defence has been infinitely more stoic than that of the Premiership, impressively limiting Juventus to a single goal and shutting out Chelsea completely with a blend of bravery, talent and outrageous good fortune.

But while those two conquered sides have attacking players of menace - Ibrahimovic and Robben spring to mind - it is the combined potency of Milan's forward players that make them such a devastating threat.

With Andriy Shevchenko, Kakà, Hernan Crespo, and even Pippo Inzaghi tearing into them on Wednesday night, Sami Hyypia and company will struggle to cope, particulary with players like Djimi Traoré in the line-up, who are simply not Champions League class.

At the other end of the pitch, the Milan back four and the excellent Dida have been imperious all season, and should have more than enough nous to deal with the one-dimensional threat posed by Liverpool's pacy man through the middle, be it Djibril Cissé or Milan Baros.

A slight worry for Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti must be the way PSV's wide men got at his side in the second leg of the semi-final, something Rafa Benitez will have noted and he will instruct Jon Arne Riise and Luis Garcia to stretch Milan across the field looking for gaps into which Cissé and Baros can forage.

But with Kakha Kaladze and the evergreen Cafu - amazingly playing his first Champions League final - raiding forward themselves, the Liverpool wide men are likely to see their attacking plans stymied tellingly.

The glimmer of hope for Liverpool comes in midfield, where the partnership of Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, resting on the foundations provided by Didi Hamann, is as good as any in European football.

If Gerrard's ambition is sated by his boyhood side's unlikely march to the final - and the lustre of Chelsea's lucre proves resistible - then he and the Spaniard can form the first genuinely world-class Liverpool midfield duo since Graeme Souness and Terry McDermott.

Up against the silky Andrea Pirlo, the tigerish Gennaro Gattuso and the reborn Clarence Seedorf in Istanbul, if they can put their foot in, win the ball and push forward, Gerrard and Alonso can hurt Milan.

But Milan, despite recent wobbly form, just seem to have too much class all over the pitch for Liverpool that the Premiership side simply will not be European champions come Thursday morning.

Who do you think will win the Champions League final? Email me at iholyman@eurosport.com and the best comments and predictions will go on the site ahead of Wednesday's game.