Bayern Munich and Chelsea have a brief, but memorable history in the Champions League.
On just the two occasions the pair faced one another, 11 goals were scored. Just as synonymous with the tie as Frank Lampard's exceptional goal is, rather bizarrely, a laundry basket.
LAMPARD STRIKES PAST KAHN
In the basket case was Jose Mourinho. Allegedly, anyway. Banned from the touchline for the quarter-final tie after his allegations against referee Anders Frisk the previous round, he supposedly had himself smuggled into the home dressing room.
Rui Faria, his assistant at Stamford Bridge as he is now at Real Madrid, was wearing a beanie hat on a suspiciously mild evening. Something chunky appeared to lurk underneath it as Faria chatted to himself. Or a mobile phone...
Ahead of Saturday's Munich final, there are no hints of any similar quirks. For both sides, European football has proven to be escapism away from the domestic doldrums. Chelsea may have won the FA Cup, but their Premier League campaign has been their worst in 11 years.
They do at least have silverware, unlike Bayern. Borussia Dortmund retained their Bundesliga title before battering the Bavarians 5-2 in last week's DFB-Poka final, with the Reds' defence still susceptible to spectacular capitulations. Even with Manuel Neuer.
BAYERN BEATEN BY BORUSSIA
Yet the Champions League has been the club's priority. With the final being at their Allianz Arena stadium, the incentive has spurred Jupp Heynckes' team on, and they deservedly progressed ahead of Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Bayern are aiming for their first European Cup win since success at San Siro in 2001, as they bid to add to their three-in-a-row haul of the 1970s.
Their opponents meanwhile are seeking their first. Four years on from John Terry's tears in the Moscow rain, this Blues squad is inferior but arguably more resolute.
Roberto di Matteo has infused them with harmony too. And with a European Cup winners' medal the one major trinket to have eluded the likes of Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and the banned Terry, this potential one last chance has been an extra source of motivation.
Heynckes himself has lost a final as a player. A loser to Liverpool with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1977, 21 years later as manager he guided Real Madrid to their first European Cup triumph in 32 years with victory over Juventus in 1998. He was dismissed shortly afterwards.
SUSPENDED INDIVIDUALS
Bayern Munich
Holger Badstuber, David Alaba, Luiz Gustavo
Chelsea
John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Meireles, Ramires
