Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez is looking forward to coming up against Andrea Pirlo in the Champions League final, saying he is the best Italian player he has ever faced.
The pair have met plenty of times over the past 18 years -- going back to their first clash in an under-18 encounter in October 1997 -- and Saturday's final in Berlin could be the last time they go head-to-head in such an important fixture.
Xavi, who is leaving Barca for Qatari club Al Sadd this summer, told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he is going to miss their midfield battles.
"He's an incalculable talent," Xavi said. "It's amazing to watch him play. I'm a fan of his. For me, he has always been the best Italian player.
"Maybe I am biased because I am also a midfielder, but I have no doubt. He's always been the kind of player others have looked up to and tried to copy and who influenced their game. He was already the star of the team as a youth player and he still is 18 years later.
"This is the best final possible for our histories. Maybe we will meet again, in Qatar or in Ibiza, but it will never be on the same footballing level as this."
With Pirlo pulling the strings for Juve, Xavi feels Barca are going to have to tread carefully, insisting the final is not going to be as one-sided as many are predicting.
"It's a dangerous final," he said. "Everybody thinks that Barca will win, but Juventus have an exceptional squad. My theory is that when a side wins two, three or four titles in a row, there's nothing casual about it.
"I know there are people who think that it's easy for Juve to win the Scudetto and that theoretically they don't have such great merit in it, but it only seems that way because they do things the right way. They are strong and they defend well, and they have a great goalkeeper."
At the same time, Xavi recognises his own team's strength and how hard it is for any side to neutralise them.
"Certainly having [Lionel] Messi, Neymar and [Luis] Suarez affects people," he said. "We used to need 30-40 passes before we could get a man over, now we don't need so many touches with those three.
"With Neymar and Suarez, we're even more dangerous. It kills our opponents because they don't know whether to sit back and wait or press us. If they press us, then we can play more direct and get in behind them like we did against Bayern. If they let us play, well we've been playing this football for 15 years.
"But the same goes for Juve. If you sit back, then you're taking a risk because they play great football, with Pirlo, [Claudio] Marchisio, [Arturo] Vidal, [Paul] Pogba and two fast wide men. If you press them, they leave two players up front with Morata and Tevez quick enough to make the difference. I can see this being a much tighter final than people are thinking."