WITH the biggest game of their lives awaiting them at Wembley this afternoon, Aitor Karanka has urged his Middlesbrough players to seize the opportunity to become Teesside legends.

After almost ten months of toil, Boro’s players stand 90 minutes away from the Premier League as they prepare to take on Norwich City in the Championship play-off final.

For one of today’s opponents, next season will feature trips to Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. For the others, it will be a campaign that encompasses Rotherham, Huddersfield and MK Dons.

The contrast, like the £140m prize that accompanies a place in the Premier League, could hardly be bigger, so while there is a need to ensure that the enormity of the occasion does not prevent Middlesbrough’s players from performing as they have throughout the remainder of the season, it would be wrong to describe this afternoon as ‘just another game’.

Karanka has not attempted to downplay today’s importance in the build up to kick-off, and when he delivers his final address in the Wembley dressing room, he will be calling on his players to claim the piece of footballing history that is within their grasp.

“A final is always a different game,” said the Boro head coach, who was a Champions League winner during his time at Real Madrid. “One friend told me after the (Brentford) game that we have another game, but I told him, ‘It’s not another game – it’s the game because the final is completely different’.

“We are going to be playing for the whole of the season. Tactically and physically, we’re going to do the same as what we’ve done all season, but the psychology and other things have to be different.

“It’s different because against every single team in the league, if you lose you have another opportunity. If you lose a game in the play-offs (semi-finals), then you still have another opportunity. But in the final, you can’t lose because you don’t have another opportunity.

“So the main thing is to not make mistakes, to be intelligent, and to play with the pressure. It is going to be a new experience for all of us.”

When Karanka moved to Middlesbrough to replace Tony Mowbray in the autumn of 2013, he privately conceded that his ambition was to achieve promotion to the top-flight within two-and-a-half years.

On that score, he is a year ahead of schedule, but while the prospect of a Wembley final has captivated the whole of Teesside in the last week or so, with around 40,000 Boro fans expected to be in the stands this afternoon, the experience will count for nothing if Karanka’s side are unable to follow up their two wins over Norwich during the regular season with another success.

Today’s opponents were separated by just one point at the end of the 46-game campaign, and with most neutral observers concluding that they are impossible to split ahead of kick-off, Karanka admits he will only be able to enjoy his biggest moment in management if it comes with a happy ending.

“Reaching the final is amazing for everybody, and especially for me,” he said. “I came here 18 months ago and, at that time, I couldn’t have imagined we would be playing at Wembley.

“We’re going there because the players have had an amazing season and have done an amazing job every single day at Rockliffe. For that reason, they deserve to be at Wembley.

“But the main thing is not to celebrate yet because we haven’t achieved anything at this moment. We need to know how beautiful this moment is for everybody, but we have to do our jobs in the final because if we lose the game, then on Tuesday everyone is going to be upset.”

Boro’s players travelled to London on Friday and visited Wembley in order to acquaint themselves with the stadium before the ground was effectively closed off ahead of Saturday’s League Two play-off final, which was won by Southend.

They have been training at Arsenal’s training base at London Colney and, crucially, their leading goalscorer, Patrick Bamford, has been passed fit to take part in today’s game.

Bamford spent the first half of last week working in the swimming pool in order to protect the long-standing ankle injury that ruled him out of the second leg of the play-off semi-final with Brentford.

However, the problem has improved sufficiently for him to take a place in the squad, and while Karanka has been at pains to talk up the performances of Kike and Jelle Vossen in the 3-0 win over the Bees, it is hard to imagine Bamford being left out of the starting line-up this afternoon.

“I hope Patrick will be okay because he was training (on Saturday),” said the Spaniard, who also confirmed Ben Gibson has shaken off the minor knock that was troubling him last week. “He’s a little bit better and I hope he can play.

“I have to think now because Kike took his chance (against Brentford) by scoring a goal. Jelle scored against Brentford as well so it is a bit of a headache. I have some very good strikers and I have to choose the right one. Physically, Patrick is fit to play, so then it is my decision. The only thing I have on my mind is the team.”