Mohamed Salah outshone Neymar and Kylian Mbappe on the Champions League stage last season, but as Paris Saint-Germain's star duo head to Anfield on Tuesday seeking to make amends, the Egyptian is struggling to match the heights of his debut campaign at Liverpool.
Salah's failure to hit top form dates back to his last Champions League appearance four months ago.
Back in May, Salah was on the crest of a wave as his 44-goal campaign had carried Liverpool to the Champions League final and ensured qualification for this season's competition.
However, he lasted just 30 minutes in Kiev after injuring his shoulder when wrestled to the ground by Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos and the Spanish giants went on to lift the trophy in a 3-1 win.
That started a difficult few months for Salah as he was also robbed of being 100-percent fit for Egypt's first World Cup in 28 years.
Without their talisman, the Pharaohs were beaten by Uruguay in their opening game and his goals against Russia and Saudi Arabia couldn't prevent Egypt returning home without a single point.
Salah has also gone to war with the Egyptian federation over the use of his image and the decision to host their base camp in Chechnya.
Egypt's star player was put in the awkward position of having to pose for photos with Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been accused of human rights abuses.
That hangover has been felt on the field with Salah scoring just twice in Liverpool's opening five games of the campaign and missing chances he ruthlessly put away last season.
- No one-man team -
So far Salah's slackness hasn't cost Jurgen Klopp's men. A summer of shrewd investment to build on the already substantial progress made under the German is already bearing fruit with five straight wins.
"Of course, it's important that we don't have only one goalscorer," Klopp said after an impressive 2-1 win over Tottenham on Saturday, that should have been a far more comprehensive victory if the visitors had taken their chances.
"It's still early. Five games, fantastic we've won all of them, we have improved."
The 39 million euros ($45 million) Liverpool paid for Salah from Roma was brilliant business not just based on Salah's production, but the hyper inflation that took place in the market just weeks later when PSG smashed the world transfer record by splurging 222 million euros on Neymar.
A further 180 million was then splashed on beating Europe's big guns to the signature of Mbappe, who confirmed his status as the rising star of world football in winning the World Cup for France.
Both Neymar and Mbappe will see themselves as heirs to the throne of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the world's best player.
But it is Salah who is on the shortlist for FIFA's Best Player award alongside Ronaldo and Croatian midfielder Luka Modric of Real Madrid, after PSG failed to get beyond the last 16 of the Champions League last season.
The limited spotlight offered by Ligue 1 means Europe's premier club competition is where Neymar and Mbappe need to shine to be in the running for individual awards.
However, a blockbuster clash on a Champions League night at fortress Anfield is also the perfect stage for Salah to demonstrate to the world he is no one-season wonder.
Barca this time?
Barcelona: Almost exactly an hour after the final whistle, Barcelona posted a tweet: "Congratulations to @realmadrid for winning the 2017/18 Champions League title."
Underneath some fans demanded the message be deleted immediately while others claimed it as a classy touch. "We are rivals, not enemies", one wrote.
Meanwhile, Barcelona's key players - Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta - stayed quiet. Some had recently posted pictures of themselves surrounded by their families, with the World Cup just around the corner.
But from the words that have been spoken since, and despite the club's stately message, it is clear Madrid's triumph hit home. Barcelona had failed and this made it even harder to bear.
"Obviously it's infuriating (for us)," Suarez said in an interview with RAC1 earlier this month.
"Madrid have won the Champions League in each of the last three years. They have made history and it's a thorn in our side." Chiefly, perhaps, because Barca will feel they were better than Madrid last season.
They blew them away in a 3-0 flurry at the Santiago Bernabeu and then played with 10 men for the second half at the Camp Nou and still drew 2-2. They even led with a man fewer until Gareth Bale's late equaliser.
Valverde was accused last season of over-exerting his players in the league, particularly when it was clear it was won.
Three days before the capitulation to Roma, the likes of Messi and Suarez were playing 90 minutes to beat 14th-placed Leganes.
Valverde has indicated he will adapt. Ahead of their Group B opener at home to PSV on Tuesday, Sergio Busquets and Philippe Coutinho started as substitutes in Saturday's win over Real Sociedad, even if both were needed before the end.
Messi, who turned 31 in June, may also need to be preserved if he is to add a fifth Champions League success to his collection. Now captain, he appears hungrier than ever.
"It's time to win the Champions League," Messi told Catalunya Radio earlier this month.
"We've been knocked out in the quarter-finals three seasons in a row and maybe the last one was the worst of all because of the result and how the match was played.
"I think we have to aim for that, as a club, as a team and as a collective. We have a spectacular squad and we can do it."
Inter eye winning return
Eight years have elapsed since Jose Mourinho's reign as Inter Milan coach ended on a historic high of Champions League glory, and the fallen Italian giants are still struggling to recapture that magic from Madrid.
The Portuguese oversaw the most successful season in the club's history — a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu completed the first treble of Serie A, domestic Cup and Champions League in Italian history.
Since those days it has been lean times for the 18-time Italian and three-time European champions, with the only title of any sort a 2011 Italian Cup crown.
Luciano Spalletti's side return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2011-2012 season on Tuesday when they host Tottenham at the San Siro.
Expectations are high, but their return comes against a backdrop of continuing crisis as the Nerazzurri lie a lowly 15th with just one win and four points from four games.
