Leinster’s Ireland fly-half was instrumental in all four previous European Cup successes for his province, with Leo Cullen’s side tying French giants Toulouse for most number of titles with their victory over Racing 92 in the Bilbao final in 2018.

Yet Leinster came up short in Newcastle earlier this year, when Saracens ran out 20-10 victors, and captain Sexton warned that the Irish province would be motivated both by that defeat and the drive for a fifth European title this term.

“It’s an unbelievably special competition, one that we’ve been lucky enough to have some success in over the years, and we’re trying to add to that now,” Sexton said in Cardiff at the EPCR 2019/20 season launch.

“The fifth star is a huge motivation for the club. It’s something that Stu [Lancaster, Leinster’s senior coach] mentioned when he first came into the club. It wasn’t about the fourth star, but trying to get to five, which no other club has done.

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“We came so close last year. It just wasn’t to be against a great Saracens team, but hopefully we can go another step further this year.”

The loss to the English club at St James’ Park was prominent in the thoughts of both Sexton and head coach Cullen as they look forward to their Pool 1 opener against PRO14 rivals Benetton Rugby at the RDS Arena on November 16.

“I’m sure that will fuel us,” Sexton said. “It will be a big driving factor for us through the year.”

Cullen added: “When you get to that level, it comes down to the smallest of margins and for us, we just work away, prepare as best as we possibly can each week and try to get all those little bits right that we can take into any given weekend.

“We’ve a long way to go to get back to that stage, but we’re all looking forward to the challenge of it as well.”

Johnny Sexton outlined Leinster Rugby’s twin incentives for the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup campaign on Wednesday as the four-time winners look to atone for last May’s final defeat and to make European rugby history this season.