Wayne Rooney insists Manchester United will need to attack Chelsea if they want to beat them in the Champions League final.

Rooney will start in Moscow, looking to add to his Premier League winners' medal he claimed earlier this month - when United pipped Chelsea on the last day of the season.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is now weighing up how to approach the game with Chelsea, but Rooney insists they need to attack.

"If we go in there negatively and defensively, Chelsea have a good enough team to punish us," Rooney said.

"We just have to relax and play the free-flowing football we have played most of the season.

"We said when we got to the final how good it would be to beat an English team, but also how much it would hurt if we lost.

"To get so close and if we didn't manage to win it, particularly to an English team like Chelsea, would be a nightmare.

"We're meeting up with the Chelsea players a couple of days later with England, so defeat would be pretty difficult to take.

"Opportunities like this don't come around very often, so you have to do everything you can to make the most of them. And that's what we intend to do."

The 22-year-old feels the time is right to get some revenge on Chelsea.

"I hope it's payback time against Chelsea," said Rooney.

"It's the same thing with Portugal. I've had a few ups and a few downs against both of them in recent years.

"I broke my foot at Chelsea, we lost to them in the FA Cup Final, then I hurt my hip last time we played them, so I've got some bad memories there.

"But, hopefully, this experience will turn out to be a good one. Our games against Chelsea are always close - but we have to go into this one confident and ready to try and deal with whatever they throw at us."

Rooney himself is getting married in the summer, and coupled with the league title, he sees the Champions League as the perfect way to sign off this season.

"It would be a great year for me personally and for the team if we could win the Champions League," he said.

"If we can bring the trophy back to Manchester, I'm sure it would make my wedding feel a lot better.

"My life off the pitch is probably the best it's ever been. I'm eating the right foods, doing the right things and not going out as much as I used to. That's helped me a lot."

The former Everton star also feels back-to-back Premier League titles and now the European final, totally justify his decision to quit Goodison Park for Old Trafford.

"You join a club like United to win things," he said.

"I've managed to do that. To play in the biggest club tournament in the world and then reach the Champions League Final is a great achievement.

"So I'm sure a lot of Everton fans, if they didn't understand before, will understand a bit more now why I made the move."

More news from SportingLife.com