Never has a weekend clash between English football’s most inveterate foes been prefaced by something so compelling as a public discussion between the two men who encapsulate the rivalry.
Sir Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson, who sparred gently at an event in aid of football dementia research on Friday night, have far more in common than their honorifics and a Glaswegian birthplace.
The pair crossed the Scottish border within nine years of each other to become defining figures at two great clubs. Future managers would gaze out from dugouts to the stands named after them.
The particular kind of distaste which Liverpool and United share for each other had allowed for little public diplomacy before Friday night.