Well now, when it comes to football, one man has for many years been the most noticeable, the most controversial, and occasionally the most successful blogger this country has ever produced. His pithy words and abrasive style make him as famous off the pitch as he is on it. This man is Escapini. "I love football. Football she's a cruel mistress. She's, she's more than a mistress. She's a wife, she's a mother, she's a daughter, she's an errant child. She's a… she's a… she can make you laugh, she make you cry. She can bring tears me eyes. She can bring blood to me shoulders. She can bring a kettle to the boil." "Cause football is about nothing, unless it's about something and what it is about, is football."

1 min readPublished 21 May 2010, 21:03Updated 26 May 2010, 17:09

Arsenal Football Club

Behind The Scenes At The Champions League Final

Jose is looking forward to a ‘great final’. Louis van Gaal said it was ‘an honour to be back’ at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The meeting of these two extraorinary men reunites Inter coach José Mourinho with the man from whom he learned so much when assistant to Van Gaal at the Camp Nou over a decade ago.

‘I can only say good things about that time, It feels like yesterday even though it was 12 years ago. I told him when we got to the final ‘A big hug before the final, a big hug after the final’. The big hug before the final is done; the big hug after the final will happen.’

The stage is set.

To whet your appetite, courtesy of our friends at Heineken, here are some exclusive images from backstage.