The next five days bring a series of end games to decide the final teams that will leave or join the lucrative English Premier League and whether Barcelona can wrest the Champions League from Manchester United.
Already crowned champions in their own countries, the stars of United and Barcelona have one piece of business left to deal with in Rome on Wednesday night. The Champions League has its dream final, and the two sides can hardly be separated in the betting, with Barcelona narrow favourites.
Barcelona have been the most exciting team in Europe this season and in full flow it is doubtful if any team could stop them. They have an 'English problem', however, that was evident again in their semi-final triumph over Chelsea. Although they came through, they did not win either leg, which took their record against English teams to four wins, five draws and four defeats since their re-entry to the Champions League in 2004-05 - the record is not as even as it looks, as three of Barca's four wins came after the opposition had been reduced to 10 men.
Two of those games were against United at last season's semi-final stage - after a goalless draw at the Nou Camp, United won the return leg 1-0. United's strong defence and likely cautious game plan point to a low score on Wednesday night, even though Champions League finals tend to produce three goals or more (six of the last 10).
United are bidding to go through the competition undefeated, as they did last season and in their treble-winning year of 1999, and that is a small factor in their favour - in the past 11 seasons, six teams have gone into the final with fewer defeats than their opponents in that season's competition, and every time the team with fewest defeats has come out on top.
Forced to choose between two excellent teams, the selection would be United to win in 90 minutes.