COMPARISONS have seldom been as odious as that made by Peter Schmeichel when he boasted that his Manchester United side would beat the team that won the 1968 European Cup 10-0.
Odious, or just irrelevant? Thirty years on, football has changed radically. Players are faster and fitter and have less time on the ball, although, as Schmeichel demonstrated in Munich and Copenhagen, they are not immune from the odd, extraordinary, error.
Having seen both teams play many times, I believe that the 1968 United led the European pack, while the current players are merely among the front-runners.
Euphoria ruled after last Wednesday's 5-0 demolition of the mediocre Brondby side. Schmeichel described the goal that Andy Cole chipped over the Danish side's keeper as the best seen at Old Trafford. But Schmeichel was not there that Saturday afternoon when one saw George Best sprint and swerve past one Sheffield United defender after another, to score a goal that lives in the memory.
Alex Ferguson, the United manager, observed: "I think the first-half performance was one of the best I have seen at United. If we retain that form, we can beat anyone."
Anyone? Dynamo Kiev, for example? To play superbly against negligible opposition is one thing, to do so against a more substantial side is entirely another.
There is no Best in the current United team. In the recent past, they had an arguably great player in Eric Cantona, and now they have the often unavailable Ryan Giggs, one of our pitifully few world-class players. Even he, and Cantona, however, have been unable to help United regain the European Cup.
Indeed, making one of his strange but significant European errors, Ferguson, in a crucial game against Juventus in Turin, sacrificed Cantona as a lone striker, handed the initiative to the Italian side, and lost.
With a trip to Barcelona next on the agenda, United must have uneasy memories of their previous visit there in the competition, when Ferguson omitted Schmeichel and the Spanish team swept United aside. Ferguson knows there are two hard games to come against Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but neither side looks invincible. Barcelona drew a match at Old Trafford that should have been lost, and are conceding careless goals, including those by Alexander Zickler and Hasan Salihamidzic at the Nou Camp last Wednesday, which cost them the game against Bayern. Despite the passion of their immense support, Barcelona have long been vulnerable at home in this tournament.
It may be assumed that Schmeichel, after his fearful blunders in Munich, which lost his team two important points, and his uncertainties in Copenhagen, will, as Ferguson insists, have got the knots out of his system as he recovers full fitness. He is a goalkeeper who can win any game. But how solid is the defence in front of him? It might prevail against Barcelona and Bayern's inconsistent attacks, but could it withstand the thrusts of Dynamo Kiev's Sergei Rebrov and Andrei Shevchenko, assuming that by the time it comes to the knockout stage, Shevchenko will still be in Kiev rather than Milan?
The power and pace of Shevchenko could be a fearful problem for Jaap Stam if the two sides meet. The Dutch centre-back seems to be playing better after a woeful World Cup and two dire games against Arsenal, but to pay so huge a fee for a player so vulnerable to pace still seems bizarre, especially when such a fine young prospect as Wesley Brown was waiting in the wings.
Overall, there is little in the field to frighten United, with the possible exceptions of Kiev and Real Madrid on their day. The Italian entrants cut a curiously feeble figure. What has happened to Juventus, yet to win a European game, held to the flimsiest of draws in Turin last week by modest Athletic Bilbao, and saved by the streakiest of own goals? They seem unlikely to qualify; last season they did so only by virtue of the madman's flytrap of a system that let them sneak through at the last gasp.
Inter, for all their expenditure, for all the presence of Ronaldo, cannot punch their weight. They were the luckiest of teams to draw against Spartak in Moscow, Diego Simeone's header coming almost at the death.
Real Madrid have abundant talent, with Robert Jarni giving them new drive on the left of midfield, but remain quite unpredictable. So the window of opportunity is wide open for United, but favourites? It may all depend on Shevchenko. Let us, rather, say contenders; and so much must depend on the brilliance of Giggs.
