Soccer fever is peaking in the home of the Catholic Church as the Vatican gears up for Saturday's climax to a new tournament for priests and trainee clergymen.
The Clericus Cup Final pits the Redemptoris Mater college against the Pontifical Lateran University.
Like Wednesday's Champions League Final, it will be a rematch between the two sides.
The seminarians pipped their academic elder brethren 1-0 in the group stages last month.
Redemptoris coach Simone Biondi says his side "will be the Vatican's Milan".
"We want to win just like they did against Liverpool".
Unlike the cagey Champions final, Vatican soccer watchers expect an attractive attacking game as the Redemptoris squad has several South Americans - along with 13 Italians including 11 Romans.
They also have the Church's equivalent of Milan's Kaka or Pippo Inzaghi in Davide Tisato, a 23-year-old student priest who used to be part of Serie A club Chievo Verona's youth team.
The Lateran priests boast 15 Italians and a sprinkling of eastern European talent with two Poles, one Bosnian and a Macedonian.
The sides had two hard-fought semi-finals with the priests beating the Legionaires of Christ 7-6 in a penalty shoot-out and the seminarians seeing off another Roman college, Sedes Sapientiae, by the single strike of Costa Rica goal-poacher Pedro Ugalde.
The Clericus trophy is just as distinctive in shape as the famous jug-eared Champions silverware, featuring a seminarian's cap perched on top of a soccer ball, with a pair of boots underneath.
"A true Christian has his head in heaven and his feet on the ground," organisers said.
Italy's top sports official, Olympic Committee chief Gianni Petrucci, will be on hand for the match along with Italian Soccer Federation President Giancarlo Abete and Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
Cardinal Bertone caused a stir recently when he hinted the Holy See might set up its own national team.
But he later squashed the idea, confessing that it was just "a bit of fun".
Some 300 players from 50 countries took part in the competition.
Apart from a team of all-American student priests and a squad of Croatians, most of the sides were mixed-nationality outfits reflecting the Church's global span.
The oldest player was Yarza Inaki, a tough-tackling 54-year-old Basque priest.
The tournament followed most standard soccer rules but games only lasted 60 minutes and referees showed a blue card to players who got a bit hot under the collar, putting them in a 'sin bin' to cool off for five minutes.
The tournament was organized by the Centro Sportivo Italiano, a Christian body that promotes education through sport.
"Sport can help ease the malaise of young Italian people who need to be saved from boredom, consumerism and a mercenary idea of life," said Centro Sportivo Italiano Chief Edio Costantini.
Many of today's Italian stars first showed their skills on pitches provided by Catholic churches.
