Euroscene: In some senses, the countdown to tomorrow night's all-Italian UEFA Champions League final between AC Milan and Juventus probably started on a cold, Turin, February night more than four years ago.

That countdown features the two men who coach tomorrow's finallists, namely Marcello Lippi of Juventus and Carlo Ancelotti of AC Milan.

On that February night in 1999, while Ancelotti was on the unemployed list, Lippi was sitting on the Juventus bench during an untypical 4-2 home loss to Parma.

Furious with the attitude of the players, Lippi stunned everyone by offering his resignation in a dramatic news conference just minutes after the defeat.

As the coach who had won three Serie A titles and one Champions League trophy in the previous four seasons, Lippi was convinced that the club would reject his "resignation".

For once, Lippi got it wrong.

To his amazement, Juventus "wise men" - Luciano Moggi, Roberto Bettega and Antonio Giraudo - opted to off-load him and bring in Carlo Ancelotti.

An influential player in the Arrigo Sacchi coached AC Milan side of the 1980s and a relatively successful coach at Parma, Ancelotti represented a major gamble on the part of Juventus.

Put simply, prior to taking over at the "Old Lady", Ancelotti had won nothing as a coach. He inherited a side whose Serie A title chances were already compromised, but which was still on target in the Champions League.

In his first major test, Ancelotti failed as Juventus threw away a 2-0 lead against Manchester United to lose 3-2 in the second leg of an epic semi-final tie that saw United go on to win the trophy.

To this day, there are people in and around the Juve camp who argue that, had Lippi still been in charge, Juventus would have made that season's Champions League final.

Ancelotti experienced an arguably more bitter setback 12 months later when his Juventus side lost the title on the very last day of the 1999-2000 season when beaten 1-0 away to Perugia, in a game that was famously interrupted by a titanic May downpour.

Juventus had gone into that last day on top of the table and a win would have wrapped up the title.

In the end, the Juventus slip-up proved to be Lazio's gain, allowing Sven-Goran Eriksson's side to win only its second Serie A title.

When, 12 months later, Juventus again finished second in Serie A, this time behind AS Roma, the Juventus "wise men" began to shake their heads ruefully.

By the demanding standards of the "Old Lady", Ancelotti was beginning to look like a loser. Nor did a first phase Champions League elimination in that 2000-2001 season much help Ancelotti's cause.

The "wise men" made their move. Swallowing pride, they recalled the one man whom they reckoned could set the listing Juve ship back on course, namely Marcello Lippi. In the meantime, they unceremoniously sacked Ancelotti.

Lippi, who had failed miserably with Inter Milan in the meantime, proved an immediate success back at his self-defined "spiritual home".

Two summers later, Juventus have won two successive league titles and are about to dispute their fourth Champions League final under Lippi.

And Ancelotti? Called back to his "spirtual home" at AC Milan to take over from Turkish coach Fatih Terim in the autumn of 2001, he has still to win a title or indeed a Cup competition.

Tomorrow night, Ancelotti could lay that ghost in emphatic fashion.