When Edwin van der Sar missed out on a second successive Champions League winner’s medal with Ajax, the Holland goalkeeper could scarcely have imagined that, 12 years on, he would have another opportunity to join that select band of players who have won European club football’s premier competition twice.

But with Van der Sar hinting that he could retire once his contract at Old Trafford expires next summer, the 37-year-old is determined to make the most of his third Champions League final appearance when Manchester United face Chelsea in Moscow tomorrow.

Van der Sar was only a 24-year-old when Ajax beat AC Milan in the Champions League final in Vienna in 1995, but delight gave way to despair the next year when the Dutch club were beaten on penalties by Juventus in Rome and it is not an experience the goalkeeper wants to repeat.

“Maybe in 1995 I felt I was going to get more opportunities,” he said. “But I’m only going to play one or two more years, so my opportunities are running out.

“I might as well take this chance. It is a great competition and I am really pleased to reach the final and have another chance again.

“I know what it is like to win and to lose the final. I know what it is like to have the high and the lowest point you can possibly get. It is massive. All the players know what they have to do. They know what they want.”

After leaving Juventus to join Fulham in August 2001, Van der Sar was convinced that his chances of competing in the Champions League had gone.

But when Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, decided to sign Van der Sar three years ago, having tried and failed to lure him to Old Trafford as Peter Schmeichel’s successor in the wake of the club’s historic treble triumph in 1999, the goalkeeper was presented with an opportunity to bow out at the top and it is one he has worked hard not to waste.

Apart from a few shaky moments, Van der Sar has been an integral figure in United’s back-to-back Barclays Premier League title wins and is desperate to crown a memorable season with another European Cup victory.

“During my time at Fulham, I went to watch Chelsea a couple of times in the Champions League,” he recalled. “I went to see them against Barcelona and Bayern Munich. I remember seeing Oliver Kahn doing the warm-up and thinking, ‘I used to be doing this’ and, ‘What must I do to get there again?’ “You hope you get the chance and that someone will give you the opportunity to do it again.

“At Fulham, that was going to be difficult. That’s why I am very grateful to get this opportunity. I’m enjoying it, I’m taking it all in and I’m concentrating on helping us get the trophy.”