If Barça overcome a clever, dangerous Juventus side on Saturday night, and if it is Xavi Hernandez lifting that big lump of silver to the Berlin sky, then it will be a story of such emotion and such poetry that it would make a granite gargoyle shed a tear.
Equally, if it happens to be Gigi Buffon, then our sport will still swell with pride -- 84 Champions League games, a genuine all-time legend and finally, at 38 years old, this trophy for the first time, in the same square metre as where he lifted the World Cup nine years ago.