Luis Suarez and Giorgio Chiellini
Giorgio Chiellini and Luis Suarez meet 11 months on from the bite in Natal during the World Cup Getty Images

It says much about the quality of Barcelona and Juventus, the Champions League finalists in Berlin, that the showcase continental clash has become about two great teams rather than the rivalries within it.

Naturally, there are key head-to-head battles which, like every game, will define the contest. Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic face off against Paul Pogba and Andrea Pirlo in midfield; Lionel Messi must overcome the attention of Patrice Evra; while Carlos Tevez looks to get the better of Javier Mascherano.

They are individual rivalries that will work to shape the game in the German capital and, more likely than not, decide the outcome. However, there is one head-to-head that, away from the panache of the occasion, is all about the past.

Luis Suarez and Giorgio Chiellini dominated the sports news agenda in the summer of 2014 like few have, and few may ever will. The Brazil World Cup belonged, for some 72 hours, solely to them after Suarez's barbaric bite on Chiellini's shoulder.

Suarez has served his inordinate punishment, left Liverpool for Barcelona and continued on his path to becoming one of the best players on the planet. Chiellini, too, has continued on his merry way, winning the Serie A title with Juve and enhancing his reputation as one of the most uncompromising defenders on the continent.

Yet, the pair's history is set to catch up with them when they meet for the first time, 348 days on from that fateful day in Natal when Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy was paled into insignificance.

The narrative of Barcelona's pursuit of a treble under Luis Enrique and Juventus' first European Cup final appearance since 2003 has thankfully overshadowed the attention on Suarez and Chiellini's first meeting since that incident.

But when Suarez and Chiellini clash in the flesh at the Olympic Stadium, will both players look at settle old scores or allow the evening to pass without reason for concern, or an emergency plaster?

Perhaps, most refreshingly, it is in neither players' make-up to dig up old graves and instead expect their football to do the talking. Suarez has returned to the swashbuckling, kid-in-a-school-playground player who lit up the Premier League.

Chiellini, meanwhile, is among the most focused and driven players in Italian football and his form since the events of 11 months ago is admirable, if not unsurprising.

So, surprised by the lack of attention on the central figures of the summer of shame in 2014? Don't be. Suarez and Chiellini will not play the pantomime villains again in Berlin.