A year is a long time in football; a geological age if you are a Red or a Devil.
Last March it was Liverpool who won the Carabao Cup, the first trophy of an epic 63-game pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple.
A few weeks later they whacked United 4-0 at Anfield; almost an act of mercy after the 5-0 evisceration at Old Trafford.
The gulf between the clubs back then was as wide as the river Mersey at its Atlantic mouth.
Liverpool came close to immortality; for United there was only ignominy.
The forgettable Ralf Rangnick was supposedly in charge of the Devils, the unforgettable Cristiano Ronaldo supposedly part of the team.
Fast forward to today and a barely credible transformation – for both clubs.
It’s United who hold the Carabao Cup, the first of what they hope will be multiple silverware.
They’re on course for a Cup treble and the top four while Liverpool are effectively out of everything and need a late surge to secure a Champions League place.
As for local bragging rights, United are halfway there already having won the first of the season’s two league duels.
A win at Anfield on Sunday and they’ll have those too.
It’s hard to say who has made the bigger shift: United’s rise matching Liverpool’s fall from grace.
And no one saw either coming.
While Liverpool fell at the last in both League and Champions League, United got rid of Rangnick and appointed Erik ten Hag.
Many wondered whether the Dutchman, who had been rejected by Tottenham, was the man to turn this listing super tanker around.
He ticked a few boxes, but his success was limited to Ajax, after all.
In contrast, apart from the neglect of midfield, there was nothing to suggest Liverpool would become pale impersonators of their former selves.
When the season started, things got worse for United: Ronaldo’s antics threatened to poison the dressing room and they were humiliated by Brighton and Brentford.
But Ten Hag, with the backing of the club, showed his mettle by removing CR7; and his judgment by signing Casemiro.
At the time, losing a club legend and paying £70m for a 30-year-old Real Madrid has-been didn’t look like masterstrokes.
How wrong the doubters were.
The fumigation of the dressing room was key, but so were two other factors.
First, the unexpected Indian summer of Casemiro who has become a useful goal scorer as well as the inspirational fulcrum of the side.
And we thought he just did the dirty work for the superstars at Real Madrid.
Marcus Rashford’s rejuvenation has been just as startling.
The England striker was in danger of being remembered more for a win over former UK prime minister Boris Johnson than any victory on the field.
But he is a player transformed.
There are still problems though: Anthony Martial and Harry Maguire should be offloaded. And Jadon Sancho is still not the player United thought they were buying.
But it’s a massive improvement that United fans from the Stretford End to Subang Jaya will happily take.
And, as if that isn’t enough, there’s the prospect of the hated Glazers finally getting out of their club.
But the Glazers being the Glazers, they are sticking out for every last sen they can milk from it.
And if it’s a Qatar operation that takes over, is that an improvement?
Besides the obvious clash with Paris Saint-Germain, there’s all the baggage that country brings that even the Glazers could not be accused of carrying.
That’s not to say that Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), who tested the water and decided it wasn’t warm enough, wouldn’t shun a big offer from the Gulf. Wouldn’t they?
In the meantime, Kopites, stunned by their team’s unexpected dip, are left hoping Jurgen Klopp can conjure a final charge to clinch a top four place.
And that FSG can find an equity company to invest enough cash for a summer rebuild.
Jude Bellingham is the priority but Dortmund will demand north of £100m for the 19-year-old midfielder. And, on this season’s evidence, they’ll need more than him.
The simultaneous aging of Fabinho, Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson was not foreseen.
Nor have new attacking signings for a combined £100m come up to expectations.
Darwin Nunez has pace and power, but not much direction. If he was emerging from the academy, you’d be excited about his potential.
But he cost £65m rising to £84m. For that, you expect something closer to the finished product.
Cody Gakpo was much cheaper, but has also looked lost at times, and nowhere near the player that helped Netherlands to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
Their respective stumblings have only made the absence of Luis Diaz harder to take.
Liverpool will be desperate for him to play a full part in what they hope will be an end-of-season surge.
At least Mo Salah is a reassuring presence, having reached the 20 goals mark for a sixth season in a row.
Looking back over the two clubs’ rivalry, it is noticeable that for all their success in grabbing the lion’s share of English league titles (39 between them), their golden eras have rarely coincided.
Only in the late 1960s, when two great friends, Bill Shankly and Matt Busby, were in charge, did they boast great teams at the same time.
United’s Holy Trinity of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton was matched by the likes of Ron Yates, Ian St John and Ian Callaghan.
Not as much stardust but Liverpool had stellar teams that dominated for almost three decades. Later came Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and John Barnes.
Then Alex Ferguson managed to knock them off their perch until Klopp regained it.
After encouraging performances by both teams in midweek, the scene is set for a monumental clash at Anfield on Monday 12.30am (Malaysian time).
Many recent battles have failed to live up to the hype, but this one may buck the trend.
For Liverpool, it’s a chance to show they’re merely in transition – not decline – while for United, a win would suggest the revival is for real.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.