IT’S ON, Luke Littler versus Raymond van Barneveld, a dream darting date that is 16 YEARS in the making.
Littler, the teen sensation of the sport, grew up in Warrington idolising the Dutch tungsten star, praying they would one day meet on the oche.
Wearing nappies aged just 18 months, he was filmed throwing magnetic darts pretending to be a member of the Barney Army, copying the same celebration.
Luke the Nuke was born on January 21, 2007, which is only 20 DAYS after Barneveld, 56, claimed his fifth and final world crown by beating Phil Taylor in THAT Circus Tavern epic.
It will be an incredible game of generations – the age gap is a mere 40 YEARS – when they meet on Saturday in the last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship.
Perhaps it’s akin to Seb Coe running around a track against Roger Bannister, Bobby Moore trying to defend against Harry Kane or Ben Stokes hitting a six off an Ian Botham ball.
Barneveld, who beat Welsh joiner Jim Williams 4-1 on Friday afternoon, said: “When I was 16 years old, I was playing with Lego and playmobil! We didn’t have the internet.
“This guy is amazing. I’m so looking forward to this game.
“All credit to Luke – when I was 16 years old, if I saw someone like Eric Bristow for the first time in my life, I’d have been impressed, even star-struck.
“These days, kids have so many more distractions – they have iPads, iPhones, X-Box, all the gadgets – and they can go down another road.
“But when I see Luke Littler play, I see a young Michael van Gerwen.
“He’s won the world youth championship, so there is no doubt he can play.
“And the way he has been performing at this tournament is like he’s been on the Tour four or five years already.
“I’ve heard about the clip on YouTube of Luke playing darts at 18 months old – that’s insane. It’s weird.
“It’s not easy to play against him because of how young he is – but he will get a lot of pressure as well.
“Because there are so many busy people around him and he’s all over the news. Can he handle that? He has done it so well.
“I would much rather play a fast game against someone like Luke than a slow match with no emotion. You want to see emotion in the game, get people excited.”
A spot in the quarter-finals on New Year’s Day – plus a cheque for £50,000 – is on the line for the winner over the best of seven sets.
The match is set to be second up this evening in a session that starts half an hour later than normal at 7.30pm.
Barney, who reversed a decision to retire three years ago, is involved in his 31st world championships since 1991 and he warned the young upstart: “I don’t play players, I play the board.
“I’m not afraid of Michael van Gerwen. I’m not afraid of Luke Humphries. I wasn’t afraid of Phil Taylor. I’m not afraid of Luke Littler.
“To beat these guys you have to produce quality. And that’s what I am going to do.”
Welshman Jonny Clayton knocked out Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski 4-2 in the last 32.
Australian No.10 seed Damon Heta reached the fourth round for the first time with a 4-3 victory over Berry van Peer from the Netherlands.
