Peter Enckleman was once an understudy to David James at Villa but on May 17th he will face his fellow former teammate at Wembley.
Enckleman was booted out of Villa Park after he made two terrible errors against local rivals Birmingham City.
The Finnish keeper was named Blues' player of the season by fans of the St Andrews side and was ridiculed by Villa fans.
But in a season which has included some horror moments for current Villa keeper Scott Carson, Enckleman has turned his career around at Cardiff.
The stopper will now face the biggest challenge of his career as he looks to better David James and his Portsmouth side.
James has been inspired since he joined the south coast club in 2006 and he has now been reinstated as England number one.
The gargantuan goalkeeper has kept Pompey in the Cup with some brilliant saves and fully deserves a winner's medal.
James also reached the F.A. Cup final with Villa in 2000 but the Claret and Blue lost 1-0 to Chelsea at the old Wembley.
Prospect
Nevertheless, he was immense during the whole competition and his crucial penalty saves against Bolton in the semi-final got John Gregory's men through.
He will now hope to win the competition for the first time and avoid a hat-trick of disappointment in F.A. Cup finals after he also lost with Liverpool in 1996.
One other familiar face to Villa fans will be Peter Whittingham who plays alongside Enckleman for Cardiff.
The left winger was often seen as too feeble to make it in the Premiership but he has proven that he can cope with the physical demands of the Championship.
Whittingham was part of the Villa academy side which won the F.A. Youth Cup in 2002 and he looked a bright prospect at the time.
However, after playing 32 times during the 2003/04 campaign, Whittingham quickly fell out of favour the following season and was sold for £350,000.
The 23 year old has now revived himself and could even play against his former side in the Premier League next season.
Fans of the Claret and Blue are likely to back against Whittingham and Enckleman as many have yet to forgive the Finnish keeper.
However, they will be even more begrudging as they may believe their side should be in the finalafter yeat another unfortunate third round draw.