FORGET Real Madrid versus Bayer Leverkusen. The real battle last night was between football and the Force. It ended with a resounding victory for the beautiful game. An unfortunate clash of dates gave male celebrity pals of Ewan McGregor the ultimate dilemma of whether to attend the Scottish premiere of his latest film, Episode II: Attack of the Clones, in Edinburgh or the Champions League final at Hampden.

Kathyrn Allan, from UGC Cinema, Fountainpark, where the premiere was being held, says: "Because of the film opening across the UK on Thursday we had to have the premiere last night, which has left a lot of male celebrities caught between their two biggest loves - football and Star Wars. Dougray Scott, Ally McCoist and now possibly Robert Carlyle have all cancelled coming to the film and gone over to the dark side to watch the football." Obi Wan would not approve.

©2002 Scotsman.com