As if it is not galling enough for Manchester United supporters to watch Champions League football from their armchairs, the ensemble cast of the quarter-finals is a who's who of talent that has got away from the club.
Robert Lewandowski, now eliminated with Bayern Munich, was on Sir Alex Ferguson's radar in 2012, David Moyes passed on Thiago Alcantara, who went on to sign for Pep Guardiola and then Jurgen Klopp. Moyes also met Toni Kroos's agent, Jose Mourinho shortlisted Ruben Dias and coveted the Atletico Madrid enforcer Jose Gimenez.
The two to truly rue are Karim Benzema and Luka Modric. Modric's tie-salvaging assist for Rodrygo against Chelsea was the zenith of assist-trumps-goal for the season and Benzema's fourth goal in two games against the holders edged an absorbing spectacle.
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"Giving up is not an option," Modric tweeted in English. A footballing magician, Modric's sorcery rivals anything in The Prestige . Though his Ballon d'Or win in 2018 was generous, the Croatian has been the best central midfielder in the world in the last decade, as prudent a passer as Xavi and as creative as Andres Iniesta.
Ferguson likened Modric to Paul Scholes and he was the natural heir in 2011 when Scholes first retired. Modric was a year into a six-year contract at Tottenham, who had thrived in their maiden Champions League campaign in 2010-11, beating Inter Milan and AC Milan before crumbling in the Bernabeu. Only they ended the Premier League season fifth and the Europa League beckoned.
Modric, by now one of the most sophisticated midfielders in the Premier League, had his head turned by Chelsea, who bid £22million and then £27m. That emboldened Modric to criticise the Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and submit a transfer request. Levy was typically undeterred and Modric stayed for another season before joining Real Madrid for £30m.
Ferguson sensed he would be wasting his time if he entered the bidding. He later described dealing with Levy as 'more painful than my hip replacement' and United have still not signed a Tottenham player since Dimitar Berbatov in 2008.
United's interest in Modric was never concrete, as Ferguson conceded in his last autobiography. In Ferguson's final four years, United only broke the £20m barrier for Robin van Persie and did not buy a single central midfielder. There were a raft of signings ranging from the underwhelming (Michael Owen) to the obscure (Gabriel Obertan) to the bizarre (Bebe).
The spiel was United had decided on restricting their transfer strategy to players aged 26 and under with resale value. The reality was the Glazer family had cottoned on the club could cope with Ferguson's genius, winning or challenging for the title, reaching Champions League finals, and lifting the odd cup, whilst spending frugally. United pulled out of a deal for the Partizan Belgrade teenager Adem Ljajic in late 2009 and a month later the Glazers attempted to raise £500m through their bond issue.
Ferguson repeatedly questioned the 'value in the market'. United ended his last four seasons either champions or runners-up by a point or goal difference, so Ferguson's rhetoric was convincing enough for many supporters to swallow it and believe Tom Cleverley was the future.
It took a handful of appearances for some to view Cleverley as a mirror image of Scholes, infamously captured in a laughable photoshopped image that was a play on the poster for the George Clooney film The Ides of March .
Cleverley debuted for United in the 2011 Community Shield, inspiring a 3-2 comeback win over Manchester City at a time United fans were googling Wesley Sneijder. That pursuit was so fruitless Ferguson's brother, club scout Martin, risibly claimed United were never interested. Only Alex had been quoted on the record discussing United's offer to Sneijder during an off-the-record conversation.
Ashley Young was United's only attacking addition of the summer and Ferguson eventually replaced Paul Scholes with Paul Scholes. He emerged from retirement midway through a season United started dependent on Cleverley, rumbled when he attempted to curate the brand 'TC23' during an injury lay-off with seven United appearances to his name.
Ferguson's midfield blind spot was not cured by the option of a teenage Paul Pogba, for whom Scholes's re-emergence was the final straw. Ferguson was fortunate Michael Carrick had regained form in the autumn and Carrick was one of United's players of the year in the Scot's final season, reflected by his inclusion in the Premier League team of the year.
Motivation, rather than innovation, fuelled Ferguson's last title and that was apparent in his frenetic final European tie against Real Madrid. While Ferguson doubled as cheerleader after Nani's red card, Mourinho introduced Modric, who equalised. Madrid won 2-1.
Ferguson turned to Michael Owen after refusing to vie with Real Madrid for Benzema in 2009. If United were serious market operators they could have insisted on a Benzema exclusion clause in negotiations with Real for the world-record sale of Cristiano Ronaldo a month earlier.
Benzema was brazenly handed a United shirt by Ferguson in the Stade Gerland tunnel after he scored for Lyon in their Champions League draw with United in 2008. A 20-year-old Benzema, conscious of the cameras, was sheepish and was Ferguson's preferred striker option but was unavailable, so United turned to Berbatov.
At a time where there was an emphasis on long-term targets, Owen and Van Persie were short-term fixes. In the brittle Owen's case, he needed fixing. The squad Moyes inherited had punched above its weight and was never going to pack a punch under its new trainer in 2013.
Whenever the current United face another inquest, the broadcasters fix a camera on Ferguson in his leather-padded seat, as though he is deserving of our sympathies. Ferguson anointed Moyes, welcomed the Glazers and still refuses to denounce the family's ownership.
United, once a club synonymous with longevity, now watch from their armchairs in envy as Benzema, into his 13th year at Madrid, and the magisterial Modric prepare for another Champions League semi-final. United's last was in 2011.
