Jose Mourinho won the Champions League in 2004 with FC Porto, and the allure hasn't dimmed for the Inter Milan coach.
Inter plays Bayern Munich at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday for the Champions League trophy that the Portuguese rates as "bigger than the World Cup."
"This game is the most important in the world," Mourinho told reporters on Tuesday. "It is even bigger than the World Cup because the teams in it are at a higher level than national teams, who can't buy the best players.
"If you hold it to be important, you have to transmit that to the players," he said.
Mourinho has led Inter to its first European Cup final since 1972, when it lost to Ajax. It is even longer since Inter last held the cup, in 1965.
After being eliminated in the first knockout round in the last two seasons, Inter ousted English champions-elect Chelsea, CSKA Moscow and defending champion Barcelona to reach this year's finale.
Following the second leg at Camp Nou, which Barcelona won 1-0, Inter was accused of playing overly negative football that lacked the flair of the 2009 champion Barcelona. They are claims Mourinho is quick to deny.
"I think that this season I haven't seen a match like the one between Inter and Barcelona at the San Siro," Mourinho said. "I haven't seen a team play the way we did.
"We attacked aggressively against the champion of Europe," he said. "We scored three goals against the champion of Europe. We won the tie in Barcelona, but everyone talks about Barcelona winning and says we parked the bus in front of the goal.
"We didn't park the bus, we parked the airplane and we did it for two reasons. One, because we only had 10 men and two, because we beat them 3-1 at San Siro, not by parking the bus, or the boat or the airplane, but by smashing them at the San Siro. I haven't seen anyone play the way we did against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea isn't a small team, it is the champion of England and no one plays like that at Stamford Bridge. Only we have played two games of the level we did against Chelsea and against Barcelona."
Inter and Munich will be missing important players. Inter is without midfielder Thiago Motta and Munich will line up without French winger Franck Ribery. Both players were sent off in the semifinals.
"Motta's absence is more important than that of Ribery for Munich," Mourinho said. "He is a player who has played a Champions League final and would bring that experience with him. He gives our midfield balance and doesn't give the ball away easily. It is a great shame that he isn't playing and it only happened because a fellow player did not behave in the correct way."
Both teams have concerns over flight plans to get to Spain's, with the possibility that further volcanic ash from Iceland will cause havoc with flight schedules in the next few days.
Inter was due to fly into Madrid on Friday, but there is the possibility that the team may have to fly on Wednesday to avoid any possible ash cover.
"I am worried about (Eidur) Gudjohnsen (ex-Chelsea and Iceland striker)," Mourinho joked. "He is an Icelandic volcano. The team has to travel tomorrow, but I would rather work here and travel the day before the match."
