Manchester Utd aim to make history

Sir Alex Ferguson stands on the brink of modern football immortality, ready to join such luminaries of the game as Bob Paisley and Brian Clough in winning consecutive European Cups. A victory tonight in Rome would be his third Champions League trophy, unprecedented in the modern era of European football, and would represent the final part of a remarkable quadruple for Manchester United - Champions League, Premier League, League Cup and World Club Championship.

That Manchester United will have to beat Barcelona, one of the most complete teams in the European game, to achieve their historical destiny, is only fitting, for the Catalans are probably the only team in the world who can stand up to Ferguson's juggernaut. In Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o they boast  a frontline that has already destroyed the defences of Bayern Munich (5-1 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-final) and Real Madrid (6-2 at Real's Bernabeu stadium).

But as Chelsea showed over all but the last minute of their two-legged semi-final against Barca, the particular challenge of breaking down a well-organised English club's back four can prove beyond even Barca. The Londoners held Pep Guardiola's team to their only goalless performance of the season at Camp Nou in the first leg, and should have won the return tie at Stamford Bridge but took their foot off the pedal with 20 minutes to go when they substituted Didier Drogba.

Manchester United should be at full strength for tonight's titanic clash, with Rio Ferdinand announcing himself fit. The question is how Sir Alex's men will line-up. If Cristiano Ronaldo is used in a central position with Wayne Rooney out on the left, then it looks like disappointment for Carlos Tevez in what is likely to be his last game for the Old Trafford club. For Barca, Henry and Andres Iniesta, hero of Stamford Bridge, should be fit enough to ensure the game sees full-strength teams on both sides.

The mutual respect between the clubs should ensure that the football on the pitch remains clean, as Ferguson is happy to talk up his opponents tonight: "Everybody said they would struggle at the back against Chelsea without Rafael Marquez and Carles Puyol but, against one of the strongest attacks in Europe, the only goal they conceded was a fantastic volley that would have beaten any defence and any goalkeeper in the world. I've read that Barcelona are the favourites and that we are the favourites but the truth is it's incredibly tight."

WHAT THEY ARE SAYINGDaniel Taylor, the Guardian: "Having pulled level with Liverpool on 18 league titles, United can round off an epic season by winning the European Cup for the third time in Ferguson's tenure, and the fourth in total, if they beat Barcelona here. Catching Madrid might be a fanciful target, as might emulating the seven-times winners Milan, but Ferguson is also acutely aware that United, the club whose moderate European record was for so long a source of great frustration to him, would then be level with Ajax and Bayern Munich in 'the pantheon of European football' and only one behind Liverpool."

Oliver Kay, the Times: "This United team have not reached a second successive final, going 25 games unbeaten in the competition, by playing into their opponents’ hands. It is why, for all the talk in recent weeks of a perfect showpiece between Europe’s two finest teams, there should be a caveat attached to any predictions of an epic final, two sides going at it hammer and tongs from the first whistle to the last. It is why Wayne Rooney spent much of last night’s final training session at the Stadio Olimpico hugging the right-hand touchline, exchanging passes with John O’Shea and knocking in crosses for Cristiano Ronaldo while Park Ji Sung looked to do likewise with Patrice Evra from the opposite side." ·