While Alex Ferguson chooses his team at the KC Stadium carefully, with hardly any of the men likely to face Barcelona in Rome next Wednesday night even making the trip, Fletcher knows he is condemned to sit in the stand at the Stadio Olimpico following the red card he received at Arsenal for what TV replays showed was a legal challenge on Cesc Fabregas.

Scholes knows exactly how the Scotland star feels of course. After all, he was booked for a two-footed lunge on Didier Deschamps during the 1999 semi-final that ruled him out of that never-to-be-forgotten night in Barcelona.

And, despite their shared experiences, the veteran midfielder admits it is not even worth discussing the matter with Fletcher.

“Darren has not spoken to me,” he shrugged. “It is just something you have to live with. We are all devastated for the lad and devastated he is not going to be in the team.”