BBC World Service

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Former Atletico Madrid captain Paulo Futre (once of West Ham) helped launch Fernando Torres' career while on the coaching staff at the club.

"I am a good Torrista… a good fan of Torres," the ex-Portugal winger told BBC World Service.

"It's a dream, the biggest of every player and he has the chance to achieve it. 

"He’s done everything, he’s been champion of the world and champion of Europe with Spain but he said this will be the most important game of his career probably.

"If he happens to win this Champions League with this team, the team of his life, I still don’t know what will happen. We’ll have to make a statue or 10 statues for Fernando. He will be god for Atletico’s fans.

"Torres was skipper at 20 or 21, behind him there is an entire team and thousands of fans. He lives in a world of big intensity.

"We love each other, we love this club. People love him and loved me. I would pay thousands of euros to be in his situation. This is a unique situation and he can win it. I didn’t."

Fernando Torres has played - or been on the bench - in seven finals in his career, winning them all.

He has won this tournament with Chelsea in 2012, as well as the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships with Spain. 

But for him, playing for his boyhood club, this is the big one.

"Without a doubt it's the most important, the most special match that I've played in my whole career. 

 "Anything that I can achieve with the club that gave me the opportunity to play football, the club I was a fan of since I was five years old, will be different from any other final. I've been lucky enough to win many things with Chelsea, with the Spanish national team, but this is special, it's different."

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One of the most amazing pieces of this Atletico Madrid story is the rebirth of Fernando Torres.

Over the past three months, the 32-year-old has looked nothing like the sluggish confidence-shorn striker we've known for five years.

It felt like his 100th Atletico Madrid goal would never come. He netted number 99 in September against Eibar and four months later had failed to score again.

But he finally reached his century in February, also against Eibar, and it awoke something inside him. 

That sparked a run of nine goals in his last 14 La Liga matches of the season - with six of those coming in the last eight.

It would be going too far to suggest he's the Fernando Torres of old, but his form is likely to get him a new contract - something which looked very unlikely at Christmas.

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There will be a documentary about Real Madrid star Gareth Bale - who scored in the 2014 final - on BBC One Wales & Online on Friday at 20:30 BST.

"Because Gareth is such a great lad, I always had that worry that he would be in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo, whether he would feel over-powered by him," former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp told the doc.

His former Real boss Carlo Ancelotti said: "He's really close to Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos.

"Now he is more comfortable in his position, he knows his team-mates and they know him and he has more power."

Read a preview feature of the show here.

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Gareth Bale is expected to play a key role for Wales at Euro 2016 and his international team-mates seem pretty afraid of him picking up an injury tonight.

Defender James Collins: "I'll be watching from behind a cushion probably, the same as all of Wales."

Midfielder Aaron Ramsey: "We'll watch it, we'll all be supporting Bale and hopefully he can come back with the medal and fully fit."

Midfielder Joe Allen: "We're praying he comes through unscathed but hopefully he can repeat what he did a couple of seasons ago and put in a huge performance in a Champions League final."

Remember the Pompey Amputees and THAT goal? Did you miss Jan praising walking football, the worldies and all the strange team names?

You can relive the 2016 FA People's Cup highlights - and watch the winners receive their trophies at Wembley - on the BBC iPlayer now.

Hull City have just won the Championship play-off final by the way, reaction is here. They beat Sheffield Wednesday in a Yorkshire derby at Wembley to return to the Premier League.

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Atletico Madrid are also unchanged from the final day of the La Liga season. Fernando Torres and Antoine Griezmann start up front.

The club have never lost (10 wins from 14 games) when Diego Godin and Stefan Savic start at centre-back together, as they are today. 

Atletico Madrid: Oblak, Luis, Godin, Savic, Juanfran, Gabi, Fernandez, Koke, Saul, Torres, Griezmann. Sub: Moya, Tiago, Correa, Hernandez, Carrasco, Partey, Gimenez.

Neither of today's European finalists are even the champions of Spain - that's Barcelona. Spanish club football has never been as strong.   

This will be the third season in a row that a La Liga side has won the Champions League, the second all-Madrid final in that time. 

In 49 of the past 53 European knockout ties between La Liga sides and teams from abroad, the Spanish club have progressed (including qualifiers and finals).

But the £5.136bn Premier League TV deal kicks in next season, with Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu telling BBC Sport that England's top-flight is a greater threat to them than Real Madrid now.

La Liga president Javier Tebas is afraid the Premier League could become "the NBA of football".

So we want to know, is Spain's dominance of the European game going to end? Will Manchester City/United/Chelsea/Arsenal etc have better teams than Barcelona and the Madrid clubs in a few years?

Let us know using #bbcfootball on Twitter, 81111 on text (UK only, please let us know your name and location) or over on our Facebook pages.

BBC World Service's Steve Crossman will be watching the game with Atletico Madrid fans tonight, but not at the club's home ground of the Vicente Calderon.

The stadium is unavailable tonight because it's getting prepared for a Paul McCartney concert on 2 June.

So instead Atletico fans - and Steve - will gather at a basketball stadium tonight. But not just any hoops venue, it's at the home of Real Madrid's basketball team...

"The undecima (11th) or chaos" reads the front of Spanish sports newspaper Sport, while Mundo Deportivo goes with "Cholo, I'm thinking of you", encouraging Barcelona fans to support Atletico in the final. 

(Cholo is Atleti boss Diego Simeone's nickname)

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"Your place or mine? Today the world... and the champions are coming to Madrid" is the long-winded headline on Marca.  

Image source, Marca

Atletico have named their line-up now. Full team news to follow but Fernando Torres starts. 

Real Madrid are at full strength, unchanged from the side who beat Deportivo La Coruna 2-0 on the final day of La Liga.

Real Madrid: Navas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Kroos, Casemiro, Modric, Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema. Subs: Casilla, Nacho, Rodriguez, Vazquez, Jese, Isco, Danilo.

Atletico haven't announced their team yet.

What better place to hold a game between two Madrid sides than a thousand miles away in Milan?

That's right, 40,000 Atletico and Real Madrid fans are expected to make the trip to the San Siro for tonight's game.

It would take more than 20 hours to go by bus and train, so I'd imagine the airlines will have hiked up the prices for Madrid to Milan flights today and yesterday.

Speaking of that... fans of both clubs who booked their hotels last year have reportedly had their bookings cancelled, external and been told they'll have to pay over five times the amount.

Woe.

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In Atletico Madrid's way - again - tonight are Real Madrid - the second time in three years they have met in European football's biggest game.

The giants have changed their manager - twice - since Carlo Ancelotti led them to 'La Decima' (their record 10th European Cup) in Lisbon two years ago.

And with Zinedine Zidane in charge, they have a coach who won one of those 10, as a player in 2002.

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24 May 2014 was one of the best days in Atletico Madrid's history, but also one of the worst.

Diego Simeone's shock newly crowned Spanish champions were playing against Real Madrid in the first ever Champions League final between teams from the same city.

After Diego Godin opened the scoring, they were seconds away from completing one of the most remarkable seasons of all time, before Sergio Ramos levelled in injury time and Real won 4-1 in extra time.

It felt like that was their one chance, the end of a (brief) era, as nine of the 18-man matchday squad left that summer - including keeper Thibaut Courtois, defender Filipe Luis and star strikers David Villa and Diego Costa.

But two years later - and with only six of that squad still at the club - Simeone has built Atletico 2.0 and they are back.