Make final a festival, Platini appeals to fans

United and Barcelona fans to turn tonight's Champions League final into a festival and not tarnish the event with violence.

More than 40,000 fans with tickets from England and Spain are in the Italian capital and UEFA has organised fan zones for both sets of supporters as well as a festival site. However, several thousand of fans, especially from England, arrived without tickets, and they are causing UEFA some concern.

Platini, who experienced the worst desecration of European football's showpiece event as a Juventus player in the 1985 final after the Heysel Stadium disaster in which 39 fans were killed, said that UEFA had every confidence the "dream final" between two most glamorous clubs would go ahead without trouble, even though UEFA is aware of the possibility it could occur.

Platini told Reuters: "This is going to be a wonderful match, and the whole world will be glued to this event, that is why it is important that everyone behave.

"Football must show itself in the best positive light. UEFA is at the service of the fans, as was the case last year with waiving the visas for Moscow and will be the case this year."

UEFA have worked tirelessly with the Italian police and security services over the last two years to ensure that today's match goes ahead without trouble.

Rob Faulkner, UEFA's Head of Communications, said: "We are fully aware there is a history of incidents in Rome caused by the rogue elements among some fans in the city, but we are not aware of any issues between Barcelona and Manchester United fans and we are expecting them to really enjoy the match in one of the world's greatest cities.

"One area that does concern us is the large number of ticketless fans moving around the city.

"We are asking the fans with tickets to make their way to the stadium early and to be well-prepared and we are asking fans without tickets not to travel."