Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, Germany's two goalkeeping rivals, have everything to lose when they take to the field in Bayern Munich's Champions League clash with Arsenal today.

Great saves, impeccable handling and all-round goal-line heroics will only go so far in persuading Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann that either man should be handed the number one jersey for the hosts at next year's World Cup.

But one blunder, a shot that slips under the body, a cross dropped to a forward's feet or an ill-advised rush from goal, could very well spell the end of one of the two men's hopes.

Bayern's Kahn and Arsenal's Lehmann, both 35, are acknowledged as being among the finest goalkeepers in the world and Klinsmann knows either man would be worthy of his place on talent alone.

Any suggestion of being unable to deal with the sort of pressure that a high-profile Champions League match provides would be another matter entirely, although Lehmann has been doing his best to play down the significance of today's showdown.

"I honestly don't believe Klinsmann will be sitting in the stands and thinking to himself, that's the player for me," Lehmann said in the build-up to a match being billed across Germany as a World Cup showdown.

For now, Klinsmann will only say that he plans to continue alternating his keepers before choosing one or the other shortly before the World Cup.

The last thing Klinsmann wants to see is a costly mistake from one of his two favourites today, or in the return in London on March 9, but it would make that decision a lot easier.

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