To judge by their respective price tags, there can only be one winner this Saturday when Drogheda's Ian Harte meets Lisbon's Luis Figo for the fourth time this season.

But to judge by the 23-year-old Irishman's demeanour as he sits back and ponders the tussle to come, nobody has bothered to tell the Republic's left back that the man he must do battle with again this weekend is the most costly talent in the game.

The Irishman, of course, has not done so badly on the European stage himself during this season's Champions League and having gone as far with Leeds as the Portuguese striker did with Real Madrid, Harte scarcely sounds like a man who is awe-struck by his rivals reputation. Primarily it seems, however, Harte is a man with a plan as he prepares for what is likely to be one of the key contests of the game at Lansdowne Road.

Figo, he says, has a tendency to dive when going down looks the most profitable course of action to the 28-year-old.

That means, he admits, that his marker will have to be extremely cautious but his intention, nevertheless, is to get in "a few good hard tackles early on," in the hope that that will "quieten him down."

Okay, nobody's claiming it's the most noble approach ever advocated by a defender but it's worked before and if Harte succeeds in limiting the influence Figo has on this game, it's hard to imagine even the most ardent of purists amongst the 30,000 Irish supporters getting on their high horse about the means by which he does it.

"He's a very tricky player," says Harte, whose international team mate Gary Kelly had to cope with Figo for much of the Champions League game at Elland Road when Figo switched over to the right flank.

"He's got the pace to go inside or outside and the balls he gets into the box can absolutely tear a defence apart. But I don't think he likes the physical side of the game so the idea is to get very close to him and make sure that he knows you're there. You have to do it because if you give him any space at all, he's capable of destroying you."

Having seen him up close three times since last summer, Harte is convinced that he is much better equipped to deal with his opponent than would have been the case if his club had not enjoyed such a remarkable run in the Champions League.

"It's only natural that you improve playing against the quality players you meet in the competition. I mean when you are playing the likes of Milan, Barcelona, Real, and Deportivo that you're going to come away a better player. The Champions League has been a great experience and we thought we might nick in ahead of Liverpool to qualify again for next year but it's probably a good thing in the end because we really need to win something."

The demands of competing in the competition this year, he admits, took their toll on everybody at the club and while he feels fresh and ready for the coming week's two internationals, he reckons the 10 or so games he missed early in the season because Dave O'Leary felt he was underperforming have ended up benefiting him considerably.

"I think since coming back from that spell things have been going a lot better for me and towards the end of the season I thought I was doing well, scoring a few important goals and helping to set up a few for other people."

In fact, he ended the season as the top Irish scorer in the top two English divisions with 11 goals, an achievement he is proud of.

For Ireland he has hit a bit of scoring form too, converting penalties in Cyprus and Barcelona. Given that record it's hard to believe that Saturday's visitors to Dublin won't be well aware of the threat the defender poses from set pieces even if Harte reckons he has some way to go towards perfecting the art of free taking.

"Beckham, Carlos and Rivaldo," are the names he rattles off when asked who the best free takers around are, "and I'd say that Beckham is probably the best in the world at the moment. I don't think my level of consistency is in the same bracket with those sort of players but it's nice when people talk about me getting a few." The 23-year-old added that he doesn't practice taking free kicks.

If he adds to his international tally for the season on Saturday then it will nicely round off what has already been a memorable season for him.

He knows the priorities, though. Keep Figo contained and help to ensure that Mick McCarthy's men stay on course for next year's World Cup finals and then take up where he left off last Friday when he married his girlfriend Laura by heading off on his honeymoon.