Perhaps the biggest blemish on Manchester United's outstanding 1998-99 treble-winning season was that their two outstanding midfielders, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, were both suspended for the Champions League final.
Even from a midfield role, Scholes was only outscored by three players in the United squad that season, and crucial strikes in the FA Cup final and away to Inter Milan in the Champions League quarters were among his 11 goals.
Scholes received his second yellow card of the European campaign in the semi-final second-leg victory against Juventus, as did his midfield partner Keane, ruling them both out of the decider against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.
In the semi-final, Keane had put in what is widely accepted as not only the finest performance of his club career but one of the finest individual efforts in Champions League history. That he, United's captain, was missing for the dramatic triumph in the Nou Camp, was especially tragic.
Keane has long stated that he did not feel like he deserved his '99 medal after ruling himself out of the final through suspension (though an oft-forgotten point is that he was taken off injured in the FA Cup final days prior, meaning he may have been unavailable regardless).
This week another crucial member of that '99 team, Gary Neville, suggested to Keane that he should have lifted the trophy after United's triumph over Bayern, not stand-in keeper Peter Schmeichel - a suggestion Keane was quick to rebuff.
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Roy Keane would have "cringed" at lifting trophy after 1999 Champions League final
The Overlap crew spoke this week on their favourite memories of playing in Europe, on 'Stick to Football' in association with SkyBet.
During the discussion, Neville suggested that Keane should have lifted the trophy after the 1999 Champions League final. Keane rebuffed that he had already felt awkward enough being a part of the celebrations on the pitch after the game while dressed in his suit and tie:
I don't agree with that.
I'm not against other people doing it, I know the rules have changed, so I think you can't be suspended for the final. But, at the time, I would have been really embarrassed. I would have been cringing, actually.
We went on at the end, me and Scholesy, but that was really late into it, when the lads were out on the pitch for about 40 minutes. Even then, I was cringing.
UEFA rules changed in 2015 to ensure that players could not be suspended for a Champions League final for an accumulation of cards. The threshold for suspension was raised to three yellow cards, with the slate wiped after the quarter-final phase.
The four-man Overlap panel laughed when Neville jokingly suggested Keane should have charged up to the presentation in his full kit - surely a not-so-subtle jab at John Terry's antics after the 2012 final.
Chelsea skipper Terry was suspended after being sent off in the semi-final victory against Barcelona but, after the Blues won against all odds at the home of their opponents Bayern Munich, Terry would arrive on the scene dressed in full kit to lift the trophy.
A jersey or club jacket, maybe. But the full-kit antics rightly made Terry something of a laughing stock in football spheres in the aftermath of the game.
Somehow, it's hard to picture Roy Keane ever doing likewise.
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