United were undone by Barcelona in Rome in 2009 after a long break in the build-up to the gameUnited’s main men will keep active in the build-up to the Champions League final, avoiding some of the pitfalls that befell the Reds against the Spaniards in Rome 2009.
Boredom and a lack of sharpness contributed to their Euro downfall in Italy two years ago.
But the United manager and his back-room staff have assessed where it went wrong in the Stadio Olimpico and will use tomorrow’s final Premier League match against Blackpool and Gary Neville’s testimonial against Juventus at Old Trafford on Tuesday to ensure the preparation is spot-on for next Saturday.
In 2009 United clinched the title with a win against Arsenal 11 days before the European Cup final.
Then for the final game of that campaign at Hull City Fergie played a team of youngsters, plus Wes Brown and Gary Neville.
None on starting duty at the KC Stadium played against Barca.
But eight who turned out in the title clincher against the Gunners played in Rome after a near fortnight’s break.
Rio Ferdinand hadn’t played for four matches before facing Lionel Messi and Co. Anderson had not played for 16 days and Ji-sung Park had not started for 17.
If Fergie had chosen a similar breather for his likely Wembley troops it would have meant a 14-day break since winning the league at Blackburn.
But the Reds boss has identified that his side need last-minute sharpening-up before Wembley.
And there are also some squad members who need to shake off some of the rust.
It should mean there will be no quibbles or cause for an FA investigation when United’s team is announced before the Blackpool game tomorrow.
The Seasiders are involved in a five-way scrap for survival and the rest will have a keen eye on Fergie’s selection.
"This game is not the kind of game you actually enjoy, playing someone at the bottom of the league," said Sir Alex.
"It is not the easiest game for me to pick a team in. Everyone is expecting us to leave players out. That will be the case. We have to think about next week.
"It is juggling the selections around. We have Gary’s testimonial on the Tuesday.
"That is important because his service to the club deserves a good representation from Manchester United in terms of the players.
"He has been a fantastic servant to us and I hope he gets the crowd he deserves. The one thing that helps us is that, with David Beckham coming, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville, along with Scholes, Neville and Giggs, it will be a fantastic occasion to reunite these players.
"There is no question they created a magnificent spirit in the place when they first arrived in the team.
"There are players who need a game anyway – Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes, Anderson, Dimitar Berbatov, Patrice Evra, Edwin Van der Sar. They will all play against Blackpool. They need a game. Then how we manage the rest we will have to wait and see.
"If you lose a game and it affects other teams, you should be put under scrutiny in terms of the team you have picked.
"If you go back to the Hull game, we played all the young players in that game. Only Gary Neville and Wes Brown were experienced players. We won 1-0. There was no reason to criticise the selection that time.
"On this occasion it will be the same again. We have to make sure we win. If we go back to when we played West Ham (in 2007 when the Reds were already champions and the Hammers needed a point to stay up), Neil Warnock (Sheffield United manager at the time), for some reason, found it easy to criticise us. But if he watched the game that day, we battered West Ham.
"We brought on Giggs, Scholes and Ronaldo in that game. It was a bit unfair of Neil Warnock to do that. All Sheffield United needed was a draw on their own ground.
"The criticism can only be valid if you lose. Hopefully we don’t. We want to win it.
"But I have to juggle the ball about to make sure I keep the right mix and keep the right energies for the final against Barcelona.
"We have addressed the potential lack of sharpness for the final.
"That is why the Tuesday game for Gary is an avenue for keeping them ticking over.
"It is also about killing the time. It can be a long week the build-up to a European final. We found that going to Rome.
"We have done most of our work for the final this week. Training has been very, very good. Once we get over Tuesdays game it will be just ticking over to the final."
But has the Reds boss got all his 11 names for Wembley in his head already?
"I have not decided on my team for the final yet," he added. "There are a couple of things we have to address. We are giving Darren Fletcher every opportunity to be fit because he is a big, big-game player.
"He played in the reserves this week. He will play on Sunday. We are chasing him along a bit to give him every chance of being ready for the final.
"The midfield is the main part. Anderson has trained really well and we have Scholes’ experience.
"They will all play tomorrow.
"It will give everyone game time pretty much where we want it."
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