Emmanuel Petit broke down in tears when, as a Barcelona player, he visited a dressing room containing his former Arsenal colleagues for the first time. He knows this afternoon in Cardiff that Chelsea's coach Claudio Ranieri is looking to him to ensure the only crying is done by defeated members of Arsène Wenger's side.
Ranieri has made it clear he is relying on Petit, together with Marcel Desailly, to lead Chelsea through the FA Cup final. "They're good players and great men," he said. "They're an example for the rest of their team-mates. It's very important."
It is a stirring message for Petit as he aims to deny his old club the chance to emulate the Double he was part of in 1998. Surely, though, he does not need motivating.
How can he when faced by Patrick Vieira, once a formidable partner at Highbury, still a close friend and a midfielder with whom he hopes to win a third international tournament this summer? Together they form what Petit calls the best partnership of his career. In direct competition today, they will be watched by the world to see who prevails. They met for a game of boules in the build-up but this confrontation will be less relaxed.
Petit may see this final, too, as a chance to confirm the resuscitation of his club career after that wasted year with Barcelona. Victory would provide considerable succour as he approaches a second straight season without the Champions League challenge that most of France's team take for granted.
The 31-year-old has insisted he has no regrets about going to the Nou Camp but it would be only human if he wondered what might have been at Highbury. He rates this Arsenal side as the "best in England", stronger than the one that did the Double four years ago.
"I think probably they have a better team than we used to have in 1998," he said. "This team don't play as we used to play. There is more and more movement. They have more options in the team. It's going to be very difficult for us. We are the outsiders. Arsenal are favourites because I think Arsenal have a better team than us but we have the qualities to make trouble for them."
There is no question about that, particularly with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen in attack. Yet Petit soon offered a familiar glimpse into Chelsea. "We have a team which can compete with the best in England," he said, "but we have to be ready physically first and we have to get a good link between minds. If we can react as a team it will be very difficult for Arsenal."
So Chelsea fans must wait to discover whether they will be given an experience to match December's 3-0 win at Manchester United or forced to endure one similar to the 3-0 home defeat by Sir Alex Ferguson's side a fortnight ago. This is why Ranieri wants Petit and Desailly to set the tone.
In the semi-final against Fulham both were impressive in the midst of an ordinary performance, lifting the team to victory with notable assistance from John Terry. From Petit there were signs of a talent seen only sporadically during an injury-interruped first portion of the season. Early in the new year Chelsea had been forced to deny stories that their £7.5m signing would be sold in the summer. Was his heart in it, some had wondered? Was he saving himself for the World Cup?
"We [certain players] have been the target most of the time because you think probably we didn't give what people expected from us at the beginning of the season because there is a World Cup at the end.
"But it wasn't because of the World Cup, not at all. We are not scared. I am not scared about injury. If you think about that, you are going to be injured. Injuries happen all the time during training and during a game. You never know if you are going to be injured."
Petit offers various reasons for his disappointing early form. Changing clubs twice in two years, he said, was not easy. Then there were injuries to cope with and the task of acquainting himself with new team-mates. Things were "very difficult" to begin with.
"The first six months were not very good," he said, "and the last six months I am happy with. I find I am doing better."
His partnership with Frank Lampard is progressing, with the England international also settling into new surrounds and consistently getting to play in central midfield after testing assignments on the flanks. Arsenal could be reminded today of how difficult Petit was to replace, though in Edu there are indications they may have found their man.
Having missed the final of Euro 2000 with illness, Petit has an added incentive to heed Ranieri's call today. He would like to walk past Arsenal's players this time wearing a smile. "The three years I spent at Arsenal were wonderful," he said. "They were very good for me but I hope another story will be written for Chelsea now."
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