Old boys united

Is there an argument to say neither should have been guaranteed their final place? Perhaps. Scholes, at 33, doesn't score goals in the profusion of old and even on the night of his Barcelona wonder strike, there were long periods where Barca's midfield movement seemed to sweep him by and make him look leaden.

Some will consider the Brazilian, Anderson, to be unlucky to miss out on a starting place even if Giggs sounded a little affronted when someone asked him if Ferguson might be picking Scholes for sentimental reasons. "No, Scholesy deserves to play because he's a great player," he declared.

As for Giggs himself, selection is more debatable. At 34, his old startling pace has gone along with that mesmeric high-speed dribbling which once resulted in the greatest goal any United player ever scored - the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay classic against Arsenal.

As he's become more error-prone and inconsistent, Ferguson has trusted more in Ji-Sung Park, whose study in perpetual motion is likely to consign Giggs to the bench.

Yet, just like Scholes, it feels almost unimaginable that the Welshman won't play an important part in Moscow. For the pair bring more than unmatched experience. Just as John Terry and Frank Lampard symbolise Chelsea's spirit, Scholes and Giggs are now United's heartbeat, the final links to that thrusting era when Fergie was told he'd win nothing with kids and then proceeded to prove why Alan Hansen was wise to stick to punditry rather than management.

Not only do they still help drive the thrilling young talent surrounding them with their own insatiable appetite for success but their stature makes everyone else want to win for the lads who came stamped with 'Made in United' long before Fergie ever thought of shopping for Brazilians and Argentines.

The love for Scholesy is undying. The old-fashioned idea of the family man who wants to get on with the job he loves without all the attendant celebrity nonsense before just clearing off home is appealing to supporters disillusioned by stories like that of the United players' excesses at their tacky Christmas party. Why else would the favourite T-shirt being hawked outside Old Trafford bears a picture of Scholes and the slogan: Turn Up, Play, F*** Off ?

Yet United's allure has always involved seduction by the exotic rather than the homespun, which is where Giggs comes in. After George Best and before David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo, it seems so long ago now that we can barely recall what excitement he engendered as football's young poster boy superstar in the early 90s.

Famously, a raging Ferguson turned up one evening at a do Giggs was attending at Lee Sharpe's house, kicked everyone else out and gave the pair a lecture about wasting their marvellous young talent. One supposes if Giggs had taken heed of the message like Sharpe did, he'd now too be doing something as worthwhile as Celebrity Love Island.

Instead, the playboy who grew into the quiet model pro is again going to be gracing the biggest game in club football and this time his equally shy and modest mate will be at his side. Never mind Ronaldo and Rooney; it's Giggs and Scholes whose names best conjure up the speed and grace, the pace and the art and the glamour and the guts of Manchester United.