Alex Ferguson will walk out at Wembley tonight for a date with destiny.
Not so much Manchester United's as his own.
Ferguson has already gone down in history as a club manager both at United and Aberdeen with a total of 38 major trophies - and we're not talking Charity Shields, either.
As I wrote the other day, he has more medals pinned to his chest than a handlebar-moustached Ruritanian archduke. There's no more he can do on that score.
But when it comes to winning the world's premier club tournament, it's not quite as he would like. Just two successes, in 1999 and 2008, and both with a huge dollop of good fortune.
Because of what he himself admits is under-achievement from a club of United's size and global pulling-power, Ferguson has never really been bracketed with Europe's managerial elite.
He is never mentioned in the same breath as Rinus Michels, the Dutchman who built the outstanding Johan Cruyff Ajax team of the early 1970s.
Or with Ottmar Hitzfeld, Ernst Happel and Jose Mourinho, all winners of the European Cup/Champions League with two different clubs.
Due to Ferguson always being regarded as more of a manager than a coach, he also pales in comparison with Arrigo Sacchi (twice a winner with AC Milan) and Dettmar Cramer (twice with Bayern Munich).
Yet if Manchester United beat a side as good as Barcelona at Wembley tonight, Ferguson will join the pantheon of all-time greats.
He will move alongside Bob Paisley as the only British managers to win the trophy three times.
And he will join Sir Matt Busby, who famously won under the Twin Towers in 1968, in folklore.
Ferguson, of course, always puts the success of Manchester United first and foremost. His own part in all this scarcely gets a mention from the great man himself.
But even he might be impressed by an against-the-odds victory over Pep Guardiola's stylishly outstanding Barca.
Before the semi-final first leg against Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, Ferguson spoke of the need for United to win the tournament more often. The Scot was also talking about himself.
He said: "The expectations for this club in the Champions League are always extremely high. And though we have done well over the last few years, we are still not where we should be.
"I look at other great European clubs like Real Madrid, AC Milan, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Ajax and am always envious. I still have that jealousy of what they have achieved.
"This present set of players have good experience of what you have to do in Europe. But we have to progress quickly now if we want to get to the level of these other clubs."
Since then, United have reached their third final in four years, having been to their fourth semi in five. But for both club and manager to make the breakthrough, they badly need a win tonight.
Ferguson may be heading towards his 70th year, yet ambition burns inside him as intensely as ever.
Flanked by Rio Ferdinand and club skipper Nemanja Vidic, he readily admitted this last night in his eve-of-battle address to the media (and not one mention of Ryan Giggs).
He declared: "That old hunger is still there. It always will be. Something like that never goes away.
"And you feel it just being here at Wembley. The Twin Towers might have gone but this is still an outstanding venue for a game like this. In fact, it's the absolutely right place for a final, for a big game. And I like big games.
"What also drives me on is the history of our club. It's one of the greatest institutions in the world.
"I go to our training ground and look at our players and, well, it's easy for me. Now it's Barcelona and all their wonderful players.
"But I'm not sure we could have prepared our lads better for the task ahead. And that's the key thing.
"That and the fact we have built some real unity here with our run in Europe, not just this season but over the last four seasons.
"These players trust themselves and trust one another. And it's those qualities which will serve us so well after what happened in Rome.
"We also made a couple of mistakes in Rome I know we won't make again. Yes, Barcelona are a great side with a magnificent manager. We understand and respect their qualities. We would be foolish if we didn't. But we will also be focusing on ourselves.
"We have a lot to offer ourselves, you know."
Writing this from the Wembley press box, I look out over a pitch of the most pristine green on which Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and the other Barcelona players are having a final run-out.
The last strands of sunlight have all but gone and the stands are empty.
Yet tonight it will feel like the epicentre of the universe.
Ferguson says it is the perfect setting for the perfect match between two clubs of outstanding pedigree and tradition.
He also feels it could be one of the greatest games the final has seen.
What chance a perfect ending?
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