Watching his old club Manchester United tussle with Bayern Munich in the Uefa Champions League this week, you'd think that the memories would come flooding back for Peter Schmeichel. After all, it was the Danish goalkeeper who captained the English side when they pulled of a miraculous recovery to beat the Germans in the 1999 final in Barcelona.
But the truth is, Schmeichel's mind goes blank when he tries to recall the comeback that saw injury-time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer give the Red Devils an unlikely 2-1 victory at the Camp Nou stadium.
'It's funny but I don't really remember anything, and that's the truth,' Schmeichel said. 'What I do remember is the evidence from what I've looked at since. But it's really a fake memory in my mind.'
Schmeichel skippered the side in the absence of the suspended Roy Keane and let in a sixth-minute opener from man of the match Mario Basler. When the 90 minutes were up, Bayern still led 1-0 and Schmeichel ventured out of his goal into the opposition penalty area as United pressed for the equaliser.
From the David Beckham corner, Sheringham scrambled the ball home, timed at 90 minutes and 36 seconds. Thirty seconds after the ensuing kick-off, United won another corner, and then Solksjaer's outstretched foot beat Oliver Kahn to send Schmeichel cartwheeling and complete a famous victory. Soon after, he was lifting the European Cup with manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
'I was given a DVD by Uefa called The Last Three Minutes, which is the end of the final from when the referee tells his assistant, 'Three more minutes',' Schmeichel said. 'At that point, it was 1-0 Bayern and the camera is right there and it has everything. It turns around to the Manchester United fans in the crowd and you see people crying. The emotions are unbelievable.'
It is seven years since Schmeichel retired and almost 11 years since he last played for Manchester United, ending his eight-season reign as the club collected a memorable treble of trophies. And now as he travels the world in his new career as a television presenter and producer, he is watching with interest as the three-time defending English champions focus on overhauling Chelsea in the Premier League after their dramatic Champions League quarter-final exit to Bayern.