UNITED PAST AND PRESENT
Peter Schmeichel should prepare himself for the warmest reception any Manchester City player has ever received at Old Trafford if he trots out on Sunday.
It may amount to little more than a ripple of polite applause, but he can hardly expect brass bands and bunting after extravagantly celebrating the Blues' 3-1 win at Maine Road in November.
Many Reds feel a little let down that the great Dane ended up joining their age-old rivals - when he left United the blow was softened by the fact that he left to play in Portugal, and not for another Premiership team.
That puzzlement turned to disbelief when news came through that the United legend would be plying his trade at Maine Road.
But Reds still look back on his time at Old Trafford with fondness - and the feeling remains that United have still not replaced a man widely regarded as the greatest goalkeeper in their history.
The man who, fitness allowing, will be at the other end, has been brilliant in patches.
His first season at Old Trafford was outstanding but doubts have crept in since then and he needs a few more good seasons under his belt if he is ever to reach the level of esteem in which Schmeichel was, and is, held. The Dane was a great goalkeeper for United.
The abiding memory of Schmeichel is of him rushing out of goal to meet an oncoming striker, straining every sinew to spread his considerable bulk as wide as possible, like a manic starfish.
His record speaks for itself - five Premiership winners' medals, three FA Cups and a League Cup domestically.
And there was hardly a dry eye in the house when the big man hauled the European Cup high into the inky-blue Barcelona sky to signal the climax of United's greatest triumph, and the end of his own career.
Barthez arrived after experiments with Massimo Taibi and Mark Bosnich turned sour and has clearly has the ability to emulate Schmeichel.
His ricks last season, notably the two in the home defeat by Deportivo La Coruna, a fluffed catch at Anfield, and two more hideous cock-ups in defeat at Arsenal, began to cast doubts in the minds of United fans and, no doubt, in that of Sir Alex Ferguson.
You expect goalkeepers to pick up broken fingers, concussion, and fractured ribs every now and then. But the Frenchman misses United games with thigh strains and swellings, hip ailments, and back trouble.
It's the kind of stuff that reinforces stereotypes of foreign goalkeepers.
A remarkable reflex stop at home to Birmingham was memorable, but the acrobatic tip-over from Didi Hamann's would-be equaliser at Anfield was the kind of save on which legends are built.
More of the same this season, as United chase glory on four fronts, and Barthez could start to hold the same kind of place in Red hearts as the Dane.
He would take a great leap forward in that regard if he could outshine Schmeichel tomorrow, when the two keepers face each other across the length of the Old Trafford pitch.