Leeds United v Norwich City: History does not beckon just yet, but the chance is there
Leeds United stand on the verge of something which has become pretty unusual for them but making history? That will have to wait.
If the Whites can see off Norwich City – the third Championship side they have faced in this season's FA Cup, but the first at home – it will put them into the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2003.
Even so, it is hard to describe Sunday's 4.30pm kick-off as a big deal, just another step towards one.
Friday’s Thorp Arch press conference was more sparsely-populated than normal, just as before rounds three and four. Increasingly, for the big boys, modern cup competitions only really get the blood pumping when Wembley looms, and Leeds are still two wins away.
Manager Daniel Farke makes all the right noises, but there are almost as many questions about the Premier League relegation battle on hiatus for 10 days or so as about cup glory, even ahead of a tie romantically pairing Leeds with the club who made his name in management.
Even Farke accepting an FA charge for entering the field of play puts Sunday’s tie in its place. He still maintains he did nothing wrong, but would rather take a ban in the Cup than risk missing a Premier League game or two if he were to contest it and lose.
At one point, Farke was asked if doing something no Leeds manager has done for over two decades would enhance his CV.
"Well to be honest, in a cup competition it's just about the winner, so for the CV it's only really important if you win the cup," replies Farke, manager of a club whose only FA Cup success was in 1972.
"To win a league or a cup competition is always something special. I also like this atmosphere of do-or-die games when you either feel an unbelievable disappointment once you lose a game or the complete joy if you win it.
"I'm not sure if it would change my CV that much to reach the quarter-final or the semi-final.
"For all of us it's a chance to write a chapter of Leeds United history but just if you win the final. We have to earn the right to play at Wembley.
"Right now, first step, we have the chance to go into the quarter-final, so let's not get too carried away.
"We have to do the job against a very dangerous Norwich side who will come brave and also cheeky and play with freedom. They have nothing to lose and it's a very dangerous side, an in-form side.
"They will play their strongest starting line-up so I expect we have to focus just on this game before we think about writing history.
"The FA Cup is very special, special to us, but of course survival in the Premier League has always been the priority. For a newly-promoted side it has to be like this.
"But if you have a chance also to progress into the next round you want to use it without risking any players and without doing anything stupid.
"We're highly-motivated to be successful and of course we want to go into the next round."
That Farke felt the “unbelievable disappointment” with Norwich, beaten in extra-time of the 2020 quarter-finals, adds fuel to the fire.
From a more positive perspective, with Newcastle United playing Manchester City, Chelsea at Wrexham and Aston Villa, Manchester United, Brentford and Bournemouth out, the dreams are not so fanciful.
"If you want to take part in sport you have to accept you can't always be on the good side," says Farke of the 2020 loss. "If you don't accept that and can't handle this with class and style and dwell on it, it's difficult.
"If you are 100 per cent sure you would win the game, it wouldn't be sport, it wouldn't be my football.
"You take extra motivation (from defeat). It was a special situation because we played during this Corona time without supporters.
"We had some good cup runs with Norwich, I was always a big believer in cup runs.
"I think we would have an even better chance in the quarter-final than we had this time with Norwich, but even there we came very close to going to the next round."
It was at Carrow Road that Farke elevated a managerial career which started in Germany's lower leagues with Lippstadt, then under-21 level with Borussia Dortmund. After joining in 2017, he won Championships in his second and fourth seasons.
"This club will always have a special place in my heart and it will always be a bit special to play against them, but my focus right now is with my team, with my club, with my supporters, and to be as successful as possible," says Farke.
"Of course I was hoping when they (Norwich) were suffering a lot and even in the relegation positions in the Championship that they would win many more points because the group of players is capable to do this.
"They have done brilliantly in recent weeks and they can concentrate a bit on the FA Cup during this week when for us it's the third game."
Despite that, Farke says only Noah Okafor is missing with injury. Like Leeds' fourth-round game at Birmingham City, Sunday's tie will be decided by penalties if 90 minutes and extra-time do not do the trick, and the quarter-finals are the first FA Cup games this season with video assistant referees.
It is unlikely to be a game which goes down in the annals, but it could yet be part of a run which does.