Its simple instruction read: ‘Believe’. At the time, this was not a difficult thing to do. Yes, the Catalan club were formidable opponents, with the great Lionel Messi wreaking havoc on a regular basis. But United were closing in on another Premier League title and, in the previous campaign, we had been knocked out in the last four of Europe’s elite competition by AC Milan, only after our exertions the previous weekend in virtually wrapping up another league triumph at Everton.
Fast forward some 11 years and there is no escaping the fact that the overall picture is different.