Soccer: Tonight, Little Italy will come alive on Sir Matt Busby way. The legions from Turin and Milan will gather under the famous bronze sculpture of the Scotsman, taciturn and Old World as he gazes sternly out upon a football culture as rich and complex as that his spirit presides over.

Busby's quizzical expression mirrors that of Manchester towards this evening's Champions League final. There are mixed feelings about the arrival of the legends of Serie A; a sense of pleasure that Old Trafford will host the greatest football show of the year, a sense of annoyance that the local heroes are not the star turn. This is still Beckhamland, after all.

On the eve of the final, the Italians gathered deep in the famous stadium to talk about the beautiful game as only they can. Quickly, a large room is filled with the scent of expensive colognes. There is much embracing and ritual hand shaking.

There is frequent laughter. There are many pairs of tan shoes and flashy jackets. A passer-by could mistake this for a Fredo Corleone convention. Sadly, there is not a single mama mio but many an intriguing pathetico, a word best spat.

The gathering is in honour of Marcello Lippi. In his own good time, the Juventus coach glides into the spotlight. Alex Ferguson is right. As major European soccer manager's go, Mr Lippi is " a good looking bastard".

Or at least he is designer suave and immaculate and glowing in a fading movie-star kind of way. You can see why Alex, craggy and gin-blossomed, would see him as the heartthrob of the old timers league. Mr Lippi gazes out and awaits the first question. The Italians do not delay in getting to the heart of the matter. Through a translator, we hear the question that ought to be asked at every sports press conference.

"Senor Lippi, will you smoke during the game?" Marcello ponders this question with a look of such content that it would not be surprising if he reached into his blazer for the sigaretto there and then.

"I do not know yet, " he confesses eventually.

"But I don't see why if I feel like it that I should not smoke during the game."

Lippi, calmly enjoying his tobacco on the touchline, has become one of the iconoclastic sights of the Italian game. And in this match, image is everything.

For the Italians beyond the participating cities this final is a reassurance that the old country has re-established dominion over the arrivistas.

But the insolent critiques of the Italian game that floated around the continent during the quiet and inexorable progress of Milan and Juve to this moment have stung the Italians. Despite themselves, they are anxious that the establishment should put on a show that the pretenders demand.

Perceptions worry them. If AC Milan is the world's best exponents of technical nous and Juve a force of muscle and intelligence, from which source will beauty flower? This is the worry that gave the Italians unquiet dreams in Lancashire last night.

"Some people open their mouths and it is like they are showing their ID cards," responds Lippi.

"I do not like to share my deepest thoughts. When we started in Juve in 1994, we had the stamp of the muscular placed on our foreheads. That remains. And what I will say is that we are a strong team. We are a temperamental and passionate team. But both teams played some great games on the way to this final. Less spectacular, yes, but I do not see any reason why this should be a lacklustre final."

Family occasions rarely are. This is probably the first major soccer final where the players actually send each other Christmas cards. Juve's Edgar Davids is a Milan old boy. So, too, is defender Gianluca Pessotto. Pippi Inghazi is a former darling of the Turin faithful.

"I have not spoken to him," declared his friend Alessandro Del Piero.

"It is true that Pippi and I did a number of things together. And I suppose this situation is the same for us, we both want to win."

But in what fashion? All year, each team has demonstrated its resolve. They shared honours in the Scudetta. As Lippi noted, they experienced similar fortunes against the unspeakably glamorous Real Madrid, whose absence from this final has been portrayed as all but an Italian conspiracy.

Alessandro Costacurta is rumoured to be an injury concern for Milan. The absence through yellow-card limbo of Pavel Nedved, Juve's key creative force, as their Champions League assault gained stealthy momentum, could be critical. Lippi, however, waved it away.

"The character of Juve has been everything this season. There are always solutions to overcome these things."

Earlier, Carlo Ancelotti of Milan had in Lippi's chair expounded on the Milan policy of ball-domination. AC Milan, he predicted, would try to own the football. Similarly, Juve are fond of playing keep ball.

As Lippi said, each will have his solution. For the watching millions, the result may be slow-burning and terse. The Italian scene is much too cut-throat and pressurised for the decision-makers to worry too much about high theatre.

Yet these are teams heavy with legends of modern times. They are predominantly a legacy of youth programmes of the 1970s. With the exception of David Trezeguet, it will not be a night for angel faces.

Maybe for the Champions League, a classic derby from Italy's industrial north would be no bad thing. The new-fangled competition has been all about razzmatazz in its first 10 years. Tonight will be about nothing so much as substance. It is tough to call.

Juve by a goal and 10 smokes.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

JUVENTUS: Buffon; Thuram, Ferrara, Montero, Birindelli; Camoranesi, Davids, Tacchinardi, Zambrotta; Del Piero, Trezeguet.

AC MILAN: Dida; Costacurta, Nesta, Maldini, Kaladze; Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf; Rui Costa; Shevchenko, Inzaghi.

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany).