On Monaco's sun-kissed shores, Juventus can prove Italian football isn't on their deathbed.
The first decade of this millennium was one of Italian glory. Between them, Milan's teams - AC and Inter - won the Champions League three times. Only Spain, with three titles from Real Madrid and Barcelona, did as well from 2001-2010.
In 2002-2003, club football's leading competition was almost entirely 'Made in Italy', with three semifinalists (Juventus, Inter, and Milan), and Milan beating Juventus on penalties in the all-Italian final.
But after the harvest came drought.
Since Inter won in 2010, no Italian team has made the semi-finals. The Italian league has slipped from third to fourth in European rankings, swapping places with Germany's far better-attended Bundesliga.
Milan, Inter, and Juventus all ranked among Europe's top 10 highest-earning clubs in 2010. Now only Juventus does, clinging on in 10th place. And the Italian national team, victorious in 2006 under the captaincy of world player of the year Fabio Cannavaro, stalled in the group stages of the last two World Cups.
So Italian football needs a fillip, and Juventus are poised to deliver it on Wednesday. Having scored the first leg's only goal with an Arturo Vidal penalty, watertight defence from Juventus would be enough to finish off Monaco in their quarter-final second leg.
Here are other things to know about the match:
SWEATING ON VIDAL: Vidal is in doubt to play after missing Monday's training with tonsillitis. That could leave Juventus short in midfield, because Paul Pogba is still nursing a right-thigh muscle tear. But striker Carlos Tevez is fully fit after scoring again at the weekend to take his Serie A-leading tally to 18 goals, 26 in all competitions.
"We have a great chance and we can't let it escape," said Tevez, a Champions League winner with Manchester United in 2008. "As I said as soon as we reached the quarter-finals, now anything can happen."
JUVE ON THE BRINK: Juventus could be an especially formidable opponent in the May semi-finals because, unlike some other teams, they will likely have won their domestic league by then. That would allow coach Massimiliano Allegri to rest players for the semis and focus the entire club on ending their 19-year wait for the European trophy. Pogba might also be back then - if not for the first leg then perhaps the second - allowing Europe to admire one of the continent's most exciting young midfielders.
With Juventus 15 points clear, it is only a question of when, not if, Juventus will win their fourth successive Serie A title. Champagne corks could pop as early as this weekend in Turin if chasers Lazio and Roma both lose and Juventus beat city rival Torino.
"We have to push hard until it's mathematically secure," said Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci, who scored a stunning goal in Saturday's crucial 2-0 win over Lazio.
GLASS HALF-EMPTY: Wear and tear from a season that has gone far better than many expected is eating into Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim's squad, leaving the 2004 Champions League runner-up short of energy to upset Juventus.
Monaco, third in the French league, played out a third consecutive draw on Saturday at their Louis II stadium, in front of a meagre crowd of 6,527. Players complained of fatigue, and the Portuguese coach was particularly critical of his substitutes.
"Our legs couldn't keep up," said midfielder Alain Traore, a second-half replacement for striker Dimitar Berbatov. "Don't forget that we've played many matches."
OR HALF-FULL: Juventus represent Monaco's last best chance this season to keep defying expectations.
Monaco's sale of James Rodriguez, top scorer at the 2014 World Cup, to Real Madrid for a reported 80 million euros (then $108 million) in July and the loan of Colombian goal-scorer Radamel Falcao to United marked a sharp change in strategy at the now more parsimonious club bankrolled by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.
Domestically, dialed-back spending and ambition have exacted a price: Last season's runner-up to French champion Paris Saint-Germain are losing touch with their Qatari-financed rival this season. They also lost to PSG in the French Cup quarter-finals, and on penalties to modest Bastia in the French League Cup semi-finals.
So for Monaco to still be in the fight for a Champions League semi-final place is an achievement. Should the quarter-finals prove to be their ceiling, Jardim's players can look back with satisfaction on earlier victories against Zenit St. Petersburg, Bayer Leverkusen and, mostly notably, at Arsenal in the last 16.
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