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IT IS all about nerve now. The skills possessed by Manchester United and Barcelona have not changed in a week, the priorities have.
And at Old Trafford tonight it will come down to who dares wins.
At some stage, United will have to shed the negativity they clung to in the Nou Camp. They must revert to being the Red Devils, pursuing Alex Ferguson's career-long credo to 'Go for the bloody throats'.
Can a team turn the tactics, and the core belief in themselves, on and off?
Can the false cloak of caution in Barcelona, restricting Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez to defensive running, simply be discarded as United put their best foot forward in the second match?
I ask the questions because I do not know the answers.
Neither does Sir Alex. He has no track record of succeeding through the timidity he and his assistant Carlos Queiroz ordered last week.
United have no history of turning zero-zero into home wins.
They dare not look back because the omens are not good. The statistics show that home sides have finished off the job by winning the second leg 14 times out of 20 in the Champions League history.
But United have never done it that way. Three times they have returned to Old Trafford scoreless, and then gone out - against Rotor Volgograd in 1996, Monaco 1998 and Real Madrid 2000.
Ferguson will remember those, but he must not instil the fear of failure into his players.
He says if United get a penalty at Old Trafford, Cristiano Ronaldo will take it - and he will score.
He says Wayne Rooney will not be asked to sacrifice himself as a defensive right-winger again, as he was in Barcelona.
He will not order Carlos Tevez to do his running deep in midfield to block Yaya Toure from coming forward.
All is well and good, but there are mixed signals in Sir Alex's orders as the season that promised so much reaches the last lap.
The message at Nou Camp, and at Chelsea on Sunday, was that the manager is afraid of burn-out and afraid of the opposition.
These are not Fergie's customary traits. His forte is the courage to go where others fear to tread, telling his players they can win.
By compromising that, he risks telling them they are tired, or the opponents are better.
Either way instils doubt. The frustration that made Rio Ferdinand kick out at a wall and a Chelsea female steward - accidentally, he claims - betrays the flaws in the man who reckons himself to be England's best captain.
The wounds to Nemanja Vidic's lip and Rooney's hip might not prevent them starting against Barcelona.
The confidence, bordering on arrogance, that made Cristiano Ronaldo say okay, he missed a penalty, but he would score at Old Trafford, is needed.
But Ronaldo also urges the Manchester crowd, all 75,000 of them, to make the 12th man tonight. They can be amazing, he says.
Maybe, but not as amazing as the Anfield wall of sound that Barcelona appeared to be inspired by, not daunted, when they won in style against Liverpool last season.
Barca, without Ronaldinho to score from free kicks, believe they will score at Old Trafford.
Xavi Hernandez, the midfield architect, says United have to come out more adventurously than at Nou Camp and, when they do, there will be more space for Barca to create and score.
Barcelona could also be the fresher of the two. United's 1-2 loss at Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday was hard on their spirit as well as the stamina.
Barcelona, by contrast, rested almost the entire first team and surrendered the Spanish league match at Deportivo La Coruna - another example of a club doing what Milan did last year, abandoning domestic pride to put everything into Europe.
The fact is that 0-0 in the Nou Camp gives Barcelona two options to United's one. United have to win the tie on their home turf, whereas a win or a score draw puts Barca through on the away goals rule.
The last two visits of Barcelona to Old Trafford resulted in 2-2 and 3-3 scorelines. The odds have swung Barca's way.
stsports@sph.com.sg
Manchester United v Barcelona
Live, Ch23, tomorrow, 2.30am
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