PARIS, May 12: When Leonardo and Ronaldo appear on a pitch together they are normally both wearing the famous yellow shirt of Brazil. But on Wednesday the two South Americans will be on opposite sides when Ronaldo's Barcelona take on Leonardo's Paris St Germain in the European Cup Winners' Cup final in Rotterdam.

``We have only played one match against each other before. Ronaldo was with Cruzeiro and I was with Sao Paulo. It was 1-1 and we both scored the goals,'' Leonardo recalled as the men and their clubs prepared for one of European soccer's showpiece occasions.

``Otherwise, we have always played together for Brazil. It's better like that,'' Leonardo added with a grin.

``We'll have to be very careful with Ronaldo,'' he said when asked whether Paris St Germain would take special measures to counter the threat of Barcelona's deft and speedy striker.

``But this is just a one-off match and anything can happen,'' Leonardo said after a PSG practice in which the French side went up a gear in their preparations to meet Barcelona.

``It's going to be interesting, the first time with five Brazilians in a European final, four players and a coach,'' the attacking midfielder said.

Paris St Germain, looking to become the first club to lift the Cup Winners' Cup in successive seasons since the competition began in the 1960-61 season, are coached by former Brazil captain Ricardo and captained by Rai.

Barcelona, who have won the trophy three times, could have Giovanni in midfield behind Ronaldo.

If Ricardo sticks to his best formula this season, the one that saw PSG out of a bad mid-season slump in which their hopes of winning a third French league title were dashed, Leonardo will line up in attack with striker Patrice Loko.

Rai will play behind the pair in the most advanced position in a midfield diamond as their chief creative force.

Barcelona spies have been impressed by Rai's current form and see him as their main threat.

Rai said: ``the danger is to fear Barcelona too much. To win, we must dare.''He said he was surprised by Ronaldo's progress since they were both in Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning squad.

``He doesn't doubt himself, he's very natural, that's one of his principal strengths. If he carries on like this, he's certainly going to become one of the great phenomena in the history of football.''

Ronaldo has already scored 32 goals this season for Barcelona, his latest coming in Barca's 1-0 win over Real Madrid in a top-of-the-table league fixture on Saturday.

He will be eager to add to that total in Rotterdam on Wednesday while one person in particular will be very keen he does not.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.