For Mikaël Silvestre the images remain scorched on to his mind. The build-up to the game; the wild swings of fortune and emotion during it; the penalty shoot-out; the all-night celebrations. They come hurtling back to the French defender when he lays eyes on his Champions League winners' medal from last season, which he claimed after being an unused substitute for Manchester United against Chelsea in the final at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium.
Almost a year on and he stands to play a part in stopping United, the club he served for nine years and 361 appearances, from reaching the final in Rome.
Silvestre's season at Arsenal, whom he joined on a surprise transfer last August, has been undermined by a thigh injury. He did not make his Arsenal debut until the middle of October because of it and, when he damaged the tendon in the FA Cup tie against Plymouth Argyle in early January, he was sidelined for more than three months.
His return to fitness, though, came just as William Gallas was ruled out for the season with a knee ligament problem and the manager, Arsène Wenger, will choose between him and Johan Djourou in central defence tomorrow, for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at Old Trafford.
Silvestre trained today to allay fears over the back spasm he suffered in the Premier League victory over Middlesbrough on Sunday, although Wenger will give him a fitness test tomorrow, while Djourou has declared his readiness after recent knee trouble.
"The Champions League final is the biggest and most competitive one-off game that there is at club level," said Silvestre. "You try to treat it like a normal game but your friends and family talk about it so much and ask you about it during the build-up that it's impossible for you not to get caught up in it. It's a very special event. It would be great for us to get back in the final this season in Rome."
Silvestre, 31, played in only five competitive matches for United last season; his fringe role convinced him that he needed to look elsewhere for regular football but two of those appearances came in the later stages of the Champions League. He played the full 90 minutes of the quarter-final second leg against Roma at Old Trafford, which United won 1-0 to advance 3-0 on aggregate, while he came on as a last-minute substitute in the semi-final second leg at home to Barcelona, as United clung on to the only goal of the tie. Although a winners' medal undeniably means more to a player when he features in the final, Silvestre did contribute to the collective United effort.
His form this season in an Arsenal shirt has been patchy. He was picked ahead of Djourou and Kolo Touré for the 2-1 Premier League win over United at the Emirates stadium in early November, during a short spell in which he was a first-choice selection, but the supporters' jury remains out on him.
Silvestre, though, will push sentiment to one side and give no quarter. "It's going to be weird going into the visitors' changing room and seeing the supporters and all the people who work at the club again," he said, ahead of his first return to Old Trafford. "Nine years at one club is a long time, it's a part of my life. I could have stayed for my 10th year and had my testimonial and it [the transfer] surprised everyone but I wanted a new challenge. Ferguson did me a favour, he had never done it before."
Silvestre almost stayed on in Manchester, although not at United; he was hours from joining City when Wenger stepped in. "I was having the medical for City, so it was pretty close," he said. "I must thank Mark Hughes for his understanding at the time, he was a gentleman about it."
Silvestre has faced United before in a Champions League showdown. He was part of the Internazionale team that fell to them at the quarter-final stage in 1999. This time it promises to be rather more personal.
