Champions League semi-final, second leg: AC Milan (2) v Manchester Utd (3): Alex Ferguson has promised that, win or lose in the San Siro tonight, Manchester United will adhere to the club's attacking principles.
Wayne Rooney's injury-time strike in the first leg last week means a goalless draw against AC Milan would be enough to seal a first all-English Champions League Final.
Had it been arch-rivals Chelsea or north-west neighbours Liverpool who headed to Italy in such a position, the smart money would be for them to advance on the back of just such a stalemate.
Yet for United, even if Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are declared fit, sitting back is not an option that can be relied upon.
Instead, Ferguson will place his trust in Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to storm Milan's defences as they did at Old Trafford and return clutching a prized ticket for the Athens showpiece on May 23rd.
"If we are realistic, we know Milan, on their own ground, will be huge favourites to score," admitted Ferguson.
"We hope we can avoid that, but the safety net is to score ourselves, that is why we will have an attacking emphasis. I don't think sitting on the edge of our box would do me, the team or the fans any good. If we are going to do it, we will do it our way. If we are going to lose we will do it our way. Hopefully, it will be good enough."
Although Vidic and Ferdinand are deemed fit enough to start, it would represent a huge gamble on Ferguson's part to name both his first-choice central defenders.
Ferdinand has already made one failed attempt to recover from the groin strain he suffered in the FA Cup semi-final win at Watford last month, while Vidic has not featured since breaking his collarbone against Blackburn on March 31st.
In theory, Vidic should be the fitter of the two given he has done more running than Ferdinand over the past week.
The Serbian's lack of match sharpness could count against him though, as Ferguson looks to find some way of plugging the gap left by suspended full-back Patrice Evra.
His most obvious solution, and one he seems most likely to take, is to shift Gabriel Heinze into Evra's position and bring in either Ferdinand or Vidic to partner Wes Brown in central defence.
With the emphasis on attack, Ferguson is extremely keen to get the most out of Scholes and Ronaldo, whose presence in the final, should United advance, is threatened by a yellow card. In the 1999 semi-final win over Juventus, Roy Keane famously shrugged off the knowledge he would be banned for the final by turning in the performance of his life to drag United back from two goals down.
Given Scholes also collected a caution at the Stadio delle Alpi that meant he would miss the never-to-be-forgotten night at the Nou Camp when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's injury-time winner beat Bayern Munich, the midfielder is facing a second successive heartbreak.
Ferguson accepts the emotional difficulties that come with walking such a disciplinary tightrope, but at least the Scot consoles himself with the belief Milan will not attempt to lure his side into trouble with blatant acts of gamesmanship.
"It is a very delicate subject," said Ferguson. "Any tournament wants its best players involved and it would be a tragedy for anyone to miss a final in that way, which is a point we made about Roy and Paul in 1999.
"It must be a pressure on the players, but my biggest confidence is in AC Milan. I don't think they will do anything bad to get players booked, partly because there is no point to it but also because there is absolutely no evidence of them doing anything wrong in our games against them, either last week or in our two games against them two years ago."
John O'Shea insists there is no point focusing on Kaka too much because then Manchester United might fall to one of AC Milan's other star names. United need no reminding about Kaka's quality after the Brazilian scored the two precious away goals that give Milan hope of advancing.
With Filipo Inzaghi likely to return for Carlo Ancelloti's men and Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf both more than capable of finding the net, O'Shea is wary of devoting too much attention to Kaka. "Kaka is an outstanding talent," he said. "But if we concentrate too much on him, the other Milan players will take advantage."
