Europe awaits a fiesta by the Seine

By this afternoon 150 charter flights will have arrived from Spain. Valencia are sending a truck with enough ingredients to make 500 giant paellas. Real Madrid have erected a 5,000 square metre marquee beside the Stade de France.

In total there will be 51,000 Madrid and Valencia fans converging on the Seine. Tonight Paris will stage a Spanish fiesta.

For the first time in the 45-year history of the European Cup, two clubs from the same country will contest the final. It could be said to be a parochial affair, but such has been the swagger and dare of Spanish football this season, all Europe awaits the spectacle.

We want to be indulged. With two teams who between them have scored 182 goals since last August, our hope is understandable.

As seen at Wembley on Saturday, however, reality can often intrude on expectation in heavy fashion. While Valencia put five past fancied Lazio in the first leg of their quarter-final, and then four past Barcelona in the first leg of their semi; and Real Madrid scored three at Old Trafford in their quarterfinal, before eliminating the other half of last year's final, Bayern Munich, in their semi, the glorious circumstances of those achievements have been overtaken somewhat by the events since, particularly last Friday's in the Primera Liga.

In the space of 90 minutes domestic Spanish issues barged indiscreetly into this supposedly European occasion. The result of the last set of results in the Spanish season have been close to mind-boggling, especially for Madrid.

Valencia, in beating Real Zaragoza 2-1 at home, leapfrogged Zaragoza to finish third in the Primera and thereby qualify for next season's Champions League. Pressure off, all fine and dandy.

Except at Real. Needing to beat lowly Valladolid at the Bernabeu to ensure that they finished second, thereby guaranteeing Champions League football for themselves, Real instead completed their worst ever home league campaign by losing 1-0. Suddenly Real Madrid were fifth. They are in the UEFA Cup, but for a club that size, that is not enough.

Real's president, Lorenzo Sanz, put Madrid's Friday failure in perspective, albeit one divorced from your average viewpoint. Reckoning that television rights, sponsorship and gate receipts leading to this final were worth close to Stg£18 million to the club, Sanz said, with threatening understatement: "Madrid has a lot at stake in Paris - and the players, too. There's some quarter-of-a-million for each player if they win. To lose constitutes 25 per cent of the club's budget. A lot of money."

The quite staggering amounts to be garnered by successful progression in the Champions League are why it has so quickly come to dwarf all other competitions bar league championships. Yet £18 million would not buy Madrid all of Nicolas Anelka - though maybe they would take him headless - and it is a sobering fact for the cigar-puffing president to dwell on that £250,000 is less than Steve McManaman earns in a month. Receiving a cheque for £67,000 every week must alter how one looks at £250,000. The economic consequences of defeat for Real are vast, undoubtedly. The club is estimated to be in debt to the tune of £75 million, which makes Sanz's £18 million fraction sound about right. But it is to be hoped that the players now earn so much they do not need to worry about money. If all 22 are focused on the match, we could witness something special.

Certainly the individuals are present. While Madrid have Anelka, McManaman, Raul, Fernando Morientes and arguably this year's biggest player, their Argentinian captain Fernando Redondo, Valencia have rushed past opponents with skilful, belligerent defenders like Jocelyn Angloma, midfielders of the calibre of captain Gaizka Mendieta and Gerard, and a forward line containing Miguel Angel Angulo, Kily Gonzalez and Claudio Lopez.

Valencia have been welded together by their Argentinian manager, Hector Cuper. One year after leading Real Mallorca to the UEFA Cup final, this grandson of an English emigrant becomes the first man to lead different clubs to consecutive European finals.

With one win in their first eight league games, Cuper may have been questioning the sense of his summer move from Mallorca. But then came October and Real Madrid. Valencia won 3-2 at the Bernabeu. Mendieta, Gerard and Claudio Lopez were the scorers.

Valencia have not looked back. They may have lost four of their Champions League ties, but one was at Old Trafford, one at Lazio, one at Fiorentina, the other in the Nou Camp when they were already through.

Valencia have been Europe's surprise. Cuper, aware of how far his side have gone, has concentrated on easing anticipation since Friday. "If we lose it will be a big loss, and we will be inconsolable at the end," Cuper said yesterday.

"But this will not be the end. The work we have already undertaken has been steady. We are flexible and ready to adapt, that's what has got us so far."

Asked if Valencia deserved to be called the best team in Europe, Cuper replied impressively: "If we play in a way that is worthy of winning the trophy, then, yes, we will deserve to be regarded as the best in Europe."

It is Valencia's first European Cup final, but Cuper's respect for the competition's history was clear.

It is matched at Real. Winners of the first five European Cups - and 1998's - the inaugural year, 195556, was won in Paris. A quarter-of-a-century later Madrid lost here to Alan Kennedy's goal for Liverpool.

Vicente Del Bosque, the man who succeeded John Toshack after a shambolic start to the season, played for Real in '81. Yesterday, in recognition of the turnaround he has overseen from mid-November, Del Bosque (49), was promoted to full-time manager from youth coach and given a new, one-year contract.

Given how the Spanish stakes have risen in the past five days, Del Bosque should get the contract signed quickly. The again, in a way he has less to worry about than Cuper. If Valencia win, Cuper has promised to streak across the pitch. If he does, Valencia's fiesta will have begun.

Real Madrid (probable): Casillas; Salgado, Karanka, Ivan Campo, Helguera, Roberto Carlos; McManaman, Redondo, Raul; Morientes, Anelka.

Valencia: (probable): Canizares; Angloma, Djukic, Pellegrino, Bjorklund; Mendieta, Gerard, Juan Sanchez; Kily Gonzalez, Claudio Lopez, Angulo.