CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL:ALEX FERGUSON has been here before, and it shows. Faced with the intimidating, 2,000-strong ranks of the sports media at the Stadio Olimpico in a desperately hot Rome last night, the Manchester United manager managed to look and sound as if he had just popped around the corner to the pub for a quiet drink with a few friends.

Did he think that the huge gulf in experience between himself and his opposite number, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, might prove to be the decisive factor when United face Barcelona in tonight’s Champions League final? After all, asked a Catalan reporter, is Guardiola not a mere babe in the woods, in his first season in European competition as a coach while Ferguson, after 22 years at United, has quite clearly seen it all before?

“Well, I suppose it’s better to have that experience than not to have it but you know, as a player, Guardiola had a great record in Europe. I hope that my experience matters but you know that is not the most important thing tomorrow.”

Manchester United are scheduled to line out in a second-choice, white strip tonight. One bold Spanish reporter had the temerity to point out that the last time Barcelona came up against a side all in white, the game resulted in a 6-2 win for them.

It was a reference to Barcelona’s memorable 6-2 win over Real Madrid in Spanish football’s own version of the “auld firm” game last month.

Ferguson was unperturbed by the reference: “I saw that game. Barcelona annihilated Real Madrid, they were fantastic . . . but we’re a better team than Real.”

Legend has it that back at the Camp Nou in 1999, Ferguson delivered a tremendous, Agincourt-style pre-match talk to his players before they went out to defeat Bayern Munich in that year’s final. What would he be saying to his men tonight?

“I have no idea. It’s usually about three o’clock in the morning before I get some inspiration so I’ll wait and see.”

One thing, however, Ferguson did confirm. Namely that his side’s useful attacking midfielder, the South Korean Ji-Sung Park, will, unlike at last year’s final in Moscow, be at least part of the squad. “He’s a very different player from someone like Cristiano (Ronaldo). He has a different understanding of space and movement. Whereas guys like Cristiano and Messi like to have the ball at the feet and are dangerous that way, Park is very good in his movement off the ball.”

With talk like that, you would have to think that maybe Park will get a game tonight.

Ferguson met the media flanked by his captain Rio Ferdinand and by his star man, Ronaldo. The latter was the object of nearly as many questions as the manager while one political activist called on him to accept a tee-shirt urging Europeans to turn out in numbers for the forthcoming European elections.

However, Ronaldo smiled graciously but promised that his mind was on the penalty box rather than the ballot box: “As for the European Player of the Year award, sure I have a much better chance if we win tomorrow night (tonight). But what I want to do is win the Champions League, I’m focused on that.”

So focused, said Ronaldo, that he and other players in the squad have been working hard at their penalties. Asked if he had been practising penalties with a view to an eventual penalty shoot-out, he nodded his head vigorously: “Sure have.”

Ronaldo is one of two great global icons on display at the Olimpico tonight. The other is Barcelona’s talented Lionel Messi. How did Ferguson think he would stop the little Argentine player?

“He always carries a huge threat but I hope that we can counter him. Yes, Messi is a fantastic player but we know him, we played against him twice last season and I think we can deal with him. But you have to respect great players like him.”

As United try to write another remarkable page in their history, this time by winning back-to-back Champions Leagues, are the players conscious of the weight of history on their shoulders, one reporter wanted to know?

Ferdinand had a very down-to-earth view of that one: “We want to win the Champions League title. That’s what we’re here for, at the end of the day, we just want to win . . . As for the history, I leave that to you guys.”

So then, will Manchester United win? Over to Ferguson: “We have a very good team, a strong squad and a bunch of players who are not only talented but who also don’t like to lose. But we have to play well to win, we have to keep our concentration and, as I always say, we need that little bit of luck.”

As we said, Ferguson has been here before. Just remember the 1999 final.