Ramos puts best foot forward with a superstitious game-plan

Although Ramos has promised to relax his strict rules on diet for a celebration meal if his team win at Wembley, sources in his native Spain insist he will maintain the quirky habits which were part of his routine in winning six of the seven cup finals he contested as coach of Sevilla.

He has rules about what he will wear, how he will prepare and even which foot he will step on to the pitch with, and they have served him well.

Ramos has won two UEFA Cups, a European Super Cup, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, with the only blot on his copybook being Sevilla's defeat in the European Super Cup just before he joined Tottenham and two days after one of his players, Antonio Puerta, collapsed on the pitch and died.

Ramos has maintained the 'granite mask' he was famous for in Spain, but behind the calm, stern exterior he is a worrier.

He struggles to sleep the night before cup finals and has very set beliefs about how the day itself should go.

If he follows his usual routine, Ramos will have a large breakfast today before taking a stroll in the streets around the team hotel.

He will try to avoid using the telephone as much as possible during the day and then slip into his lucky ensemble of a white shirt with pinstripes and a dark tie.

On arrival at Wembley, he will step right foot first on to the turf and avoid touching or even looking at the Carling Cup. He once explained: "As a junior player I did those things and on that day my team were soundly beaten."

If his respect for superstition pays off, the Tottenham players, who have shed large amounts of weight by sticking to the Ramos Plan diet, will be allowed a blow-out to celebrate victory.

"A special day only lasts a day," is his explanation and club dietician Antonio Escribano has given his approval to relax the rules just this once.