DPA © Barcelona and Manchester United will be expected to serve up a thriller as they each seek to become European champions for the fourth time in Saturday's showpiece at Wembley.
A more cautious battle of wits may be more the order of the day as two sides try to find the solutions needed to cancel out the considerable threats of their opponents in a Champions League final repeat of 2009.
Barcelona showed in that 2-0 victory through goals by Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi that they had more than the measure of United that night in Rome.
As a result, and from the fact that there has been no waning of form since then, Barcelona will start the London re-match as favourites.
However, United are oozing confidence after winning a record 19th league title and may feel destiny is on their side as they return to the scene of their first European Cup triumph in 1968.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes Barcelona are an even better team than they were in 2009, but says his own squad has gained in experience and learnt from past mistakes in Europe.
He looks back to two other meetings with Barcelona in the 2008 semi-final, when United were able to keep a pair of clean sheets, as templates to counter the Catalans.
"We showed fantastic concentration in those two ties," he said. "That is the key for us. It is an important issue in terms of Saturday."
Ferguson recognizes the danger of Messi who tops the competition's goalscoring list with 11 goals, but says Barcelona will also be aware of United's threats.
"We have played against Barcelona three times and there's always a solution to every good player," he said.
"We hope we can find a solution for Messi on Saturday. You have to recognise they have other good players and we have other good players. That's why it's such a thrilling game on Saturday. I'm sure Barcelona are aware of the threats we have."
Ferguson, 69, told UEFA.com that experience "has acquitted us well for European football now" and that the players were more patient and playing with higher levels of concentration.
Recalling the Rome final he said: "We could have been a couple of goals up in the first 15 minutes but when we lost the goal, there was an indication of how Barcelona play today because Messi was a central striker on that particular day with Eto'o playing wide right and Thierry Henry wide left."
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola says Ferguson has the greater strength in depth in his squad, as shown in United's semi-final elimination of Schalke 6-1. Having won 2-0 in Gelsenkirchen, Ferguson made nine changes for the second leg which United won 4-1.
"I can't make nine changes to my team because we have a small squad, but they have so much quality - (Dimitar) Berbatov, Chicharito (Javier Hernandez), (Wayne) Rooney, (Paul) Scholes, (Ryan) Giggs - they have so many players to choose from," Guardiola said.
Messi has also predicted Saturday's showdown is unlikely to be a repeat of the final two years ago.
"All finals are different and this will be a totally different game to that one - United have changed (some of) their players and it will be different," he said.
"They are not weak; they have very good players and a lot of quality up front - and they are used to winning."
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