Keeping calm before the storm

Players will try anything from climbing walls to eating cake in an attempt to relax before a UEFA Champions League final. Club staff do all they can to keep the team's routine as regular as possible – simple meals, a light training session, afternoon nap – but surely they are fighting a losing battle? Liverpool FC defender Jamie Carragher certainly felt so in 2005. "We knew the key was to approach the game like any other, but that's easier said than done. In fact, it's impossible. People are ringing and texting wishing you luck, there's a clamour for tickets, and the buzz is unbearable," he says of his experience in Istanbul.

Celtic sojourn
Hardly surprising; this is not any game, it is a European Champion Clubs' Cup final. Teams set off earlier than during the season, often spending a couple of days in or around the final city. In 1967, Celtic FC spent a few days in the resort of Estoril relaxing around the hotel pool, but only for 30 minutes at a time because their manager Jock Stein said too much sun would tire them out. The night before the game they went to a golf club, owned by a Scot, to watch England play before what turned out to be an eventful walk back to the hotel.

Over the wall
"All we had to do was go down this country road, cut along the sea front and then we would be back at our hotel," recalls Celtic defender Jim Craig. "It was dark by this time and [trainer] Neilly Mochan said: 'There's our hotel just over the field – let's take a short cut.' So there we were, the night before a European Cup final, and the whole first team end up clambering over a wall into a field and over a couple of fences. It was a lunatic thing to do."

Jagger's prediction
Golf played a part in FC Bayern München's preparations for a tilt at a third successive title in 1976, as they holed up in Troon. The Bayern squad did not come into contact with many fans on the west coast of Scotland but they did run into the Rolling Stones, who were staying at the same hotel. They were invited to a practice session, where Mick Jagger told them they would win against AS Saint-Etienne. He was right.

Ten-pin bowling
Around midday in Istanbul back in 2005, Rafael Benítez's then assistant Pako Ayesteran gave the squad a choice of tension-averting activities: go shopping or ten-pin bowling nearby. They chose the skittles. "I think Pako was disappointed," says Carragher. "But we just wanted to enjoy ourselves, have a laugh." They might have needed it after sitting through the movie Meet The Fockers, an earlier team-building exercise.

Musical interlude
Olympique de Marseille's Basile Boli also found a useful distraction ahead of his final appearance. Not fully fit at the time of the 1993 decider against AC Milan and haunted by thoughts he would not play, he was delighted when his best friend Chris Waddle turned up at his hotel. "Having Chris there really cheered me up," he says. "He had the latest Wet Wet Wet album and a Bon Jovi album and recommended which songs to listen to. He put a smile back on my face." Hours later, the French international headed in the only goal of the game.

Furtive feast
Eating the right thing at the right time is not something a footballer has to worry about. Club dieticians see to that. FC Internazionale Milano's coach Helenio Herrera was particularly focused on diet, banning bread from the dining room where players ate a pre-match meal of risotto cooked with olive oil and occasionally beef. In 1964, as Sandro Mazzola prepared for his first European Cup final, he and his room-mate Luis Suárez ate with the squad before retiring to their room, where they had their 'real dinner' of French wine, bread, cheese and chorizo, all smuggled in via Suárez's bag. For dessert, Mazzola helped himself to two goals as Inter defeated Real Madrid CF 3-1.

Nice pudding
Cakes probably should not enter the equation but they did not do Milan any harm in 1989 as they overcame FC Steaua Bucureşti 4-0. Mauro Tassotti had the blessing of his coach, Arrigo Sacchi, when he followed his pre-match meal with a slice of fruit cake: "The nutritionist didn't like us to eat sweet things, but Sacchi didn't mind."

This is an edited version of an article which appears in the official UEFA Champions League final programme.