Alex Ferguson strives for one more major piece of silverware this season, the European Big Ears. If Manchester United beat Barcelona in Wednesday's final, they will join the exclusive club of teams like Real Madrid, AC Milan, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Ajax - all winners of  Europe's biggest prize four or more times.

"Each success brings more expectation," said Ferguson, as quoted by the BBC.

Ferguson's era is drawing to a close after his illustrious 23 years in charge but he insists that should United fail to bag the trophy on Wednesday, he would be criticised as heavily as anyone else. In spite of all his success he insists that the pressure is still on for him to win the cup.

"You just can't avoid it if you have a couple of bad results," he said. "Look at what's happening to Arsene Wenger at the moment - I find that incredible."

Meanwhile, Barcelona have their own aspirations and they will be looking forward to Wednesday to finish an already great season in style. Barca central back defender, Gerard Pique, is convinced that Lionel Messi could outshine Cristiano Ronaldo in the Champions League final and has backed his teammate to be decisive in the dramatic encounter.

Pique is Barcelona's inside man, to an extent, as he has had a spell, albeit a short one, with Manchester United. He made his debut for the Red Devils in October 2004, as a late replacement for John O'Shea in a 3–0 League Cup victory at Crewe Alexandra. He made his full debut on 29 March 2006 against West Ham United, in a Premier League game at Old Trafford playing at right back as Gary Neville was unavailable through injury. He never really managed to cut the butter in United, however, only mustering 13 appearances for the club before he was offloaded.

Having played with both players, however, Pique told his club's website that he is convinced that when it comes to major events like that, Messi will perform better than Ronaldo on the day.  "He can be more determining because he alone can create a chance and win a game and a final," he said. "What Lionel can do is pass three or four players and that is unique."

Ahead of the clash, good news for the Salford Reds has arrived in the form of Ferguson's announcement that Rio Ferdinand will be fit to start.

Ferdinand was dogged by a calf injury for a fortnight but has hoped to make a timely return to fitness, as he refused to contemplate missing the final match.

"Rio is coming along fine," Ferguson told MUTV. "He trained on Saturday and today with the other players. I think he's on course to play on Wednesday."

The only other question marks surround the fitness of Rafael and Wes Brown who both picked up minor knocks in the 1-0 win at the KC Stadium.