Barring a miracle at the Bernabeu or a change of heart, Wednesday's game at Real Madrid will be Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon's 125th and final appearance in the Champions League.
The 40-year-old still plans to retire this summer. He is wrestling with the vocina (little voice) inside his head -- which he calls a "demon" and is tormenting him with thoughts of what awaits once he takes off those gloves for good.
On the one hand Buffon feels a sense of responsibility to the next generation. "I know better than anyone that I could get in the way of the development of others and I don't want that," he told Der Spiegel. On the other, he has a duty to his talent: "The objective is to play for as long as I am able to demonstrate I can compete at the highest level. Anything else would mean lacking respect for my career which I think has always stood out as that of a goalkeeper out of the ordinary."
The veteran is conflicted. His case is not comparable with that of Roma's Francesco Totti. It doesn't feel like he has played on too long and no longer belongs on the big stage. Buffon is UEFA's reigning Goalkeeper of the Year, he went 11 and a half hours without conceding in the Champions League last season and Juventus would not have reached the final without the saves he made to deny Nabil Fekir, Andres Iniesta, Valerie Germain and Kylian Mbappe.
With those performances in mind, put yourself in Buffon's boots. Would you choose to walk away from the game when your influence and ability to make the difference is so emphatic?
"For years I have asked myself what is it that pushes me to keep playing," he added. "This inner battle brings out great motivation. If I had won the Champions League it would have emptied me. The fact I haven't won it spurs me on."
Chasing this trophy has been a crusade for Buffon. It's his Holy Grail although what has kept him young for so long is the pursuit of it rather than the attainment. Wiping away the tears at the final whistle in Cardiff last year, he refused to give up. "I still have one more year on my contract," he told Sky Italia. "That means I still have one more chance of winning the Champions League."
Sadly it seems that chance went up in smoke last week as Juventus lost 3-0 to Real Madrid in Turin. It left you thinking maybe it's just not meant to be. The Champions League appears to Buffon what the World Cup was to Paolo Maldini (and is now to Lionel Messi.) It shouldn't change our assessment of their careers, but it's hard not to reflect on it as a sporting injustice of sorts.
Watching Buffon walk past the trophy, head down, unable to look at its gleaming shell, was painful. He would have become the oldest player ever to lift it, eclipsing Ferenc Puskas in 1966 and Maldini in 2007.
On the eve of the 2017 final, Buffon explained that winning the trophy "would provoke immense joy in me because when you arrive at this stage of your career you know perfectly why you are here and what you've had to do in order to get here. There's nothing better in life than obtaining gratification after being made to sweat for it."
Buffon has been made to sweat alright. He wasn't born into a Champions League contender like his contemporary Iker Casillas was at Real Madrid. And although Buffon made his debut in the competition as a teenager at Parma in 1997 -- Madrid happened to beat Juventus in the final that season too -- he didn't play regular Champions League football until he moved to Turin at the age of 23. While still a young age for a goalkeeper -- particularly one who is still playing 17 years later -- Buffon had already been on the scene for five years, won a UEFA Cup, and was recognised as the best in the world along with Man United's Peter Schmeichel and Bayern's Oliver Kahn.
Factor in Juventus' years in the wilderness after the 2006 Calciopoli scandal -- four seasons without Champions League football -- and it's evident a sizeable amount of time playing in that competition was missed. (Bear in mind that Buffon won the World Cup and arguably should have claimed the Ballon d'Or at the time of their relegation to Serie B.)
Famously he had the chance to join AC Milan that year but elected to stand by the Old Lady in her hour of need. As fate would have it Milan duly went and hoisted the Champions League aloft in Athens. Fortune has simply not smiled on Buffon in this competition.
Take 2003 for instance: Buffon denied Luis Figo from the penalty spot against Real in the semifinal at the old Delle Alpi. But Juventus lost the soon-to-be crowned Ballon d'Or winner Pavel Nedved to suspension. Buffon still made one of his most iconic stops in the final at Old Trafford, blowing our minds with the reaction time needed to parry a bullet header from Pippo Inzaghi away from goal, and he would save another two spot-kicks in the shootout. Ultimately though Nedved's absence told and Milan prevailed.
Despite missing out on the trophy, Buffon still reserved some of his best moments for the Champions League: the point blank stop from Borussia Monchengladbach's Lars Stindl springs to mind from the group stage two years ago, as well as that Frank Farenhorst header he somehow managed to claw out of his goal in a 3-2 defeat to Werder Bremen back in 2006.
Taken as a whole you can't help but marvel at Buffon, his evolution and longevity. The hope was Juventus would win the Champions League this year and prolong his career to include the European Super Cup and Club World Cup. That was the pact Buffon struck with Juventus president Andrea Agnelli. There is great mutual respect between the two: Buffon is godfather to one of Agnelli's children and he will respect Juventus' wishes if they believe the time has come to move on at the end of the season.
Juve's reserve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny says he would have no problem backing up the legend for another year, but Buffon remains sensitive to public perception. That was evident when he returned to the Italy national team setup in March, four months after announcing his international retirement. He does not want to cause division.
There's no chance of that on Wednesday night. Madridistas and Juventini alike are expected to come together and pay tribute to Buffon.
The Bernabeu gave Alessandro Del Piero a standing ovation after a magnificent display against Madrid a decade ago in much the same way as the Allianz Stadium applauded Ronaldo last week; more recently it saluted Andrea Pirlo and Francesco Totti on their final appearance on this great stage.
Buffon will surely receive the same recognition. Even without one of the major trophies on his mantelpiece, the mark he leaves on the game is so great that he deserves it.