MARK Hughes and Ronald Koeman will be shaking hands for about the fourth time in their distinguished footballing careers this afternoon.

Hughes reckons they have met twice in United v Barcelona cup ties – and once behind the scenes at Chelsea.

Their very first meeting is best remembered for Hughes rounding the Barcelona keeper and smashing the ball home from a distinctly unfavourable angle to win the 1991 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final in Rotterdam.

Not that it was his abiding memory.

“Yes, I remember that one,” Hughes recalled, digging deep into his footballing heritage.

“I try to forget the 4-0 one in the Champions League a couple of years later in the Nou Camp.

“The most vivid memory of 1991 was the rain when we came out for the line up. It was a typical cold, grey, murky day.

“I looked across and I could see a few of them shivering and thinking ‘It’s a bit cold tonight’. That encouraged me.”

So Barcelona, including Koeman, Michael Laudrup and Julio Salinas, didn’t fancy it?

“Maybe, but they still weren’t bad mind you! Thankfully we scored goals at the right time, it was a great night.”

Koeman scored Barcelona’s late consolation, incidentally, while the Barcelona keeper is the father of current Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets.

Hughes believes United’s victory, their first in Europe under Sir Alex Ferguson, was more than just a victory for themselves.

“English clubs had been out of Europe for five years (post Heysel disaster),” he remembers. “To come back and win a trophy in the first year back, we were something of a flag bearer for English football, so it was good to be able to do that.

“They were a very good team, lots of great players, maybe we were fortunate they had their reserve team keeper in. That was to our advantage.”

Those two playing collisions with Koeman, a defender or midfielder with a deadly kick at set pieces, evidently left an impression on Hughes.

“He understood the game and he had lots of international experience. He was never one to run around too much, he was more of a thinking man’s centre half.

“He had a great career (which included 78 Dutch caps). I used to watch him at international level and his range of passing was outstanding.

“He was a big part of the success of the Dutch teams of that era, so I used to enjoy going up against him.

“It was always tough going up against Barcelona at the best of times. They were always top quality players and you knew that’s what you’d get from Ronald Koeman.”

The pair then met some years later when Koeman had retired and Hughes was winding down his playing career at Chelsea.

“I seem to recall he came to Chelsea when I was there.

“He did part of his coaching badges there when Ruud Gullit was manager. He came over a couple of times to help Ruud and help himself.”