There isn’t a single Atletico Madrid supporter who hasn’t dreamed of it: June 1, winning the Champions League in their own stadium, third time lucky after two final defeats in the last five years.
Is there a bigger club never to have won the trophy? Diego Simeone would argue that there isn’t. And he took his team to Turin on Monday morning knowing that this season gives them their greatest chance ever to win their first European Cup.
They can rest easy that if they do reach the final there will not be a repeat of the 2014 and 2016 finals when they were beaten by their city rivals – whatever happens, Real Madrid will be watching at home.
PSG have also been removed from their path. The form of Kylian Mbappe and the possible return for the latter stages of Neymar would have made the French one of the favourites but they are gone thanks to Marcus Rashford’s penalty.
Simeone doesn’t want his players obsessing about the trophy the club has never won but he knows what a chance this is.
First they have to finish the job they started so well three weeks ago. It will not be easy despite the 2-0 scoreline.
Thomas Partey sat on Milinko Pantic nullifying the hub of all Juventus’s best football that night. He’s suspended tomorrow.
Diego Costa ran the Juventus defenders ragged for the first hour. He’s also suspended.
On the bright side Diego Godin boarded the plane in Madrid on Monday and will take his place alongside Jose Gimenez in the heart of Atletico’s defence in front of Jan Oblak.
If those there play as they can then it will be hard for Juventus to come back for all that Cristiano Ronaldo has talked up the ‘inferno’ that will await Atletico in the Juventus Stadium.
The two Uruguayan defenders got the goals in the first leg and Oblak saved brilliantly from Ronaldo and from Federico Bernardeschi to keep out an away goal.
The Slovenian keeper has only conceded 6 goals in the Champions League so far and four of those came against Dortmund. He has gone 361 minutes without letting a goal in, and Atletico have gone five games in all competitions without conceding.
Simeone has been hurt more than most by those two Champions League final defeats. He lost the plot in the first game running onto the pitch to confront Raphael Varane and picking up a lengthy ban.
And in the second final in Milan he was disconsolate on the final whistle, hinting at walking away in the immediate aftermath, and only talked around by the club in the weeks that followed.
His mood has not been helped by the appointment of referee Bjorn Kuipers for tomorrow night’s game.
It was the Dutch match official that added on five minutes in the Lisbon final in 2014, just long enough for Sergio Ramos to head in the equaliser taking the game into extra time where Atletico were defeated 4-1.
And the fact that Roberto Rosetti, Uefa's chief refereeing officer – from Turin – has handpicked the official is not helping either.
Simeone is also concerned about talisman Antoine Griezmann being a yellow card away from missing the first-leg of the next round if Atletico get there.
Griezmann was taken off at half-time at the weekend as Atletico scraped past Leganes. He is rested and ready.
He stayed at the club at the start of the season for nights like these – that and the 25m euros that the club agree to play him net per season. His duel with Ronaldo will also be key.
Ronaldo has 21 goals in all competitions. His scoring rate has dropped since leaving Real Madrid. Everything revolved around him at the Santiago Bernabeu and it showed every season in his scoring stats. Karim Benzema has scored more goals in all competitions – 22 goals – since Ronaldo left.
But Ronaldo has that indomitable winning spirit and he wants to win a Champions League with a third club.
Simeone and his band of brothers stand in the way. Their incentive is even greater. They may be the biggest club never to lift the trophy. To do it in their own stadium would almost make up for those heartbreaking near-misses.