On May 24, 1989, my good friend sitting next to me at the Nou Camp broke down in tears as we cruised into a 4-0 lead against Steaua Bucharest in our first European Cup final in 20 years. Apart from an awesome display of football from one of the best club sides in history, little did we know we were witnessing the beginning of something quite special.

Since then, Milan have been in seven European Cup finals – are you reading ‘Special One’? So, is success in Europe becoming a routine? The answer is no, never. To have attended six finals like I have is a true blessing.

Milan (please don’t call us AC – we are Milan, set up in 1899 by Alfred Edwards, the English vice-consul in the city) are less glamorous than Barcelona or Chelsea, less hyped up than Real Madrid or Manches-ter United, but we are more successful and usually play better football, too.

In this most testing of seasons, the Champions League final has attained the status of a religious icon. A year when our star striker decided that £80,000 a week was no longer enough, when the Italian FA decided to do all that was possible to ensure that Inter, the city’s second team, would finally win something, we are right back where we belong.

I will be meeting up with friends from all corners of the world tomorrow, the same ones I met in Athens on May 18, 1994 when Johan Cruyff’s arrogant Barcelona side were handed yet another lesson in football – a 4-0 defeat.

This time round? We all remember Istanbul, although none of us talk about it, and the unbearable sense of injustice still haunts us all. The difference is, this time, the players feel the same. This is not a final, it’s much more than that. It’s time to put something right against the only English club with a true European pedigree.

–– Flavio Cereda runs Milan’s supporters’ club in England