Michael Carrick does not care whether Saturday's FA Cup Final is a classic or not - just as long as he ends it with a winner's medal.The 25-year-old Manchester United midfielder does not have a particularly impressive record in the competition.
Two losing sixth-round ties, one in his first full season with West Ham, the other at Tottenham, represent the sum total of his achievements prior to this season.
Carrick has a chance to put that right this weekend by helping United complete the domestic double for an unprecedented fourth time by beating Chelsea at Wembley.
Most pundits expect a heavyweight confrontation between England's top two sides, especially as Chelsea are thirsting for revenge after losing their Premiership title to the men from Old Trafford.
But Carrick is not interested in how good the game is. All he cares about is winning.
"Sometimes finals are exciting, on other occasions they are not," said the Wallsend-born England international.
"Being back at Wembley does give the match a bit of extra spice. In the back of your mind, you really wanted to be part of it.
"But we are not interested in going there and losing, so as long as we are lifting that trophy at the end I am not too bothered whether it is a good game or not."
Carrick has been one of the unsung heroes of United's outstanding season.
There were plenty of pundits who believed Sir Alex Ferguson had paid well over the odds when he spent £18.6million to lure Carrick north from Tottenham last summer.
However, after a quiet start the former West Ham star has had an increasing influence on United's charge to the title.
And he openly admits he is a better player now than he was 12 months ago.
"I would say I am a better player this season than I was last year," he said.
"Winning the league is the best thing I have ever done.
"I played in most of the games as well, so it was a big achievement for me.
"I feel I have improved quite a lot but playing with players like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs makes it a lot easier.
"It really is a pleasure to play with them. The longer the season has gone on, the better we have got and there is no greater incentive for us this weekend than to complete the year by winning the double."
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