Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari will join the small number of Ghanaian legends to have played in the final of the Uefa Champions League final if they manage to get over the Barcelona hurdle tonight.
Jose Mourinho needed bodyguards (see pix) for a safe passage into the Nou Camp on Tuesday night as Barcelona fans turned it into a cauldron of hate for the former Chelsea manager.
Mourinho hopes to guide Inter Milan past a brilliant Barca team and into the final of the Champions League for the first time since 1972.
It was wonderful stuff and delivered both to increase the pressure on a Barcelona side 3-1 down after that stunning first leg at the San Siro and to raise the tension among the Barcelona supporters who gave him such a hostile reception last night.
He might have once worked for this great club as a translator and coach, under Bobby Robson and then Louis van Gaal, but any love was lost when Mourinho returned here as the manager of Chelsea.
Watch Mourinho taunt Barcelona fans
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The storm over Anders Frisk; the accusation that Lionel Messi was a diver. Today he is a hate-figure.
Barcelona will see a further incentive for his provocative behaviour last night - the desire to leave Milan for Madrid.
But Mourinho must already realise that no amount of posturing can match a victory against the team even he recognises as the finest in the world, so denying them the opportunity to prance around like peacocks at the Bernabeu.
It will not be easy even if Inter have a two-goal advantage.
Mourinho will be mindful of the fact that his side lost 2-0 here in November; that Pep Guardiola will have the grass cut a good deal shorter than it was for the first leg in Milan, where the Barca coach complained it was too long.
He will also be mindful of the fact that Messi often proves more dangerous at home, although the brilliant little Argentine has never scored against a Mourinho team.
There is a suggestion that there could be a subtle yet significant change to the Inter side for what could be the match of the season this evening. Mourinho named 10 of the players he intends to select.
'Julio, Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Zanetti, Cambiasso, Sneijder, Motta, Eto'o, Milito,' he said.
But then someone asked if he had forgotten 'Pandev'. 'You want to know everything,' he replied.
The feeling is Pandev could make way for Cristian Chivu, whose appearance at left back would enable Mourinho to position the great Javier Zanetti in central midfield.
Esteban Cambiasso and Thiaggo Motta were excellent last week, frustrating Messi and Xavi with the ferocity of their tackling.
But Zanetti would be the insurance policy, especially when Messi is due a goal, having not scored for four matches.
'There's no secret to stopping Messi because it's impossible to control him perfectly,' said Mourinho.
'But if he scores four or five tomorrow my words will seem ridiculous.'
For all the possession Barcelona enjoyed last week, Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder exposed frailties in Guardiola's defence and the absence of the suspended Carles Puyol, likely to be replaced by Milito's brother Gabriel, could prove significant.
Having arrived 40 minutes late, so making Mourinho wait to give his press conference, Guardiola did his best to present himself as full of confidence.
'It is not about Mourinho or his tactics,' said Guardiola.
'It is about whether my team turn up. If they do we will go through to the final.'
And if they don't then the aforementioned bodyguards could be busy. 'He's a nice guy,' insisted Mourinho in trying to defend the one who least resembled Kevin Costner.
'But if you call him scary and he understands you he will hit you!'
A bit like Mourinho, right where it hurts.
Source: Daily Mail