But it takes many elements to blend a team, and one name which is not so readily hitched to a star should make history on Wednesday.

He is Park Ji Sung.

Unless I am very much mistaken, he will be the first Asian to play in the Champions League final. He has won that right, and his parents are flying from Korea to the Russian capital to see it.

Sure, Park does not have the hypnotic appeal of Ronaldo. He doesn't make females swoon by the way he waltzes down the wing, he doesn't conjure up so many match- winning goals.

He does not possess the rugged strength of Wayne Rooney or the force of Didier Drogba.

I probably do not need to tell you what he does bring to the party. Maybe I can give you an insight into why Alex Ferguson selects Park for game after game.

It is energy, momentum, attitude.

Since Park came back from his torn knee cruciate, repaired last year in Colorado, he has never let United down. That isn't my judgment, it's the opinion of Ferguson.

The facts bear it out. Park came in fit and fresh for the last two months, when some players hit the wall of fatigue and pressure. When stamina levels drop, Park motors.

Since the end of March, he played in 10 of United's 11 games. He was chosen sometimes ahead of Ryan Giggs, sometimes instead of Paul Scholes, Rooney or even Cristiano Ronaldo.

He started in both quarter-final legs of the Champions League against Roma and the semi-final legs against Barcelona.

United did not lose in those 10 games, but did lose to Chelsea in the only game Ferguson left Park out of the squad.

He did not start at Middlesbrough and Blackburn, but came on as a substitute when United's tempo was flagging. The Reds fought back to draw those two games - and two points at the end of the season won the title.

The other seven, which Park started, were won.

He is not so much a talisman as a tireless one. His fans at PSV Eindhoven named him Three Lung Park because he seems to have extra oxygen capacity.

Computers today track the movement of every player - and against Barcelona at Old Trafford, the distance kings were Park, who ran 11.8km, Michael Carrick 11.5, and Carlos Tevez, who zipped around for 10.8km.

Extraordinary athletes, gifted footballers.

Carrick is there to hold the centre ground and to pass the ball. Tevez peps up the attack and links with Rooney or Ronaldo.

And Park? He is where danger lurks. He operates like a fireman, dowsing the flames of opposition threats. He helps the full-backs on the left or right. His direct running unnerves defences.

True, he does not score many goals. If he did, he would be Ronaldo's equal.

The two are not remotely similar. Ronaldo is tall, handsome, almost impossibly stylish, and a touch arrogant. Park is the energiser who gives the team selfless high tempo.

He will, I am sure, run himself out long before his mammoth contract with Nike ends in 2012.

But though Ferguson wants to give Ryan Giggs his wings to break Bobby Charlton's all-time record appearances, the work ethic will surely not leave Park out.

Without always catching the headlines or the eye, Park has a pivotal role in the strongest United squad Ferguson has built in 22 years as the manager.

Followers of Asian football will remember Cha Bun Kun in the Bundesliga for Leverkusen and Frankfurt over 20 years ago.

They remember Ali Daei, the Iranian who got all the way to the Champions League final with Bayern Munich in 1999 - and sat it out.

When you speak to Park, he unfailingly thanks Guus Hiddink, Korea's 2002 World Cup coach, for taking him to Europe, and mentoring him at Eindhoven.

However, when United bought him, Hiddink warned that Park would end up a bench warmer at Old Trafford.

Hiddink doesn't make many mistakes. But this was one.

It is not half the mistake that the Asian Football Confederation will make if it again overlooks Park as its player of the year.

stsports.com.sg