F is for...

As uefa.com Action's A to Z countdown to the UEFA Champions League final on 25 May continues, it is time for some fantastic Fs.

There is nothing more spectacular than seeing the ball fly into the back of the net from 35 metres out, and with free-kicks now a speciality of a number of Champions League players, it seems that there are more long-range screamers every season.

Brazilian players Roberto Carlos and Rivaldo may have been the first masters of the Champions League free-kick with their powerful drives, but David Beckham seemed to bring a whole new art to set-pieces with his elegant curling shots from distance.

However, while goals from direct free-kicks seem to become more commonplace by the year, scoring four goals in one Champions Leagie game remains an improbably difficult feat - indeed, only four players have managed it since the competition was launched in 1992/93.

The most recent was United's Ruud van Nistelrooij who scored all four in his side's 4-1 group stage win against AC Sparta Praha earlier this season. The first person to score four was Van Nistelrooij's current coach with the Netherlands, Marco van Basten, who registered four times in AC Milan's 4-0 win against IFK Göteborg in the inaugural Champions League season.

Eight years after Van Basten celebrated his four goals, Simone Inzaghi joined him in the record books as S.S. Lazio demolished Olympique Marseille 5-1. However, no one has scored four as fast as Croatian international Dado Pršo who took just 23 minutes to score four times in AS Monaco FC's 8-3 win against RC Deportivo La Coruña on 5 November 2003.

When it comes to Champions League Fs, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson may well be the most fearsome of them all. Having moved to Old Trafford from Aberdeen FC in 1986, the Scotsman has come to be regarded as the greatest Premiership manager of the modern age, and has also made his mark in Europe.

He led United to UEFA Cup Winners' Cup success against FC Barcelona in 1990/91 but his greatest moment was to come when Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær struck in the dying seconds against FC Bayern München to take the 1998/99 Champions League crown.

It was United's first European Champion Clubs' Cup since 1968, and rounded off a fabulous treble for the club. Soon afterwards, the manager was knighted for his contribution to football. Despite subsequent threats to retire, he is still going strong for United, overseeing his 1000th match with the club in a Champions League win against Lyon earlier this season.