IF THE memory is right, someone somewhere, wrote last season that Eric Cantona was the greatest footballer since Pele. The statement seemed a mite extravagant at the time but the grossness of the exaggeration only became fully apparent on Wednesday night when Manchester United made a habit of losing at home in Europe.

For in the game against Juventus, far from being the greatest since Pele, Cantona was the third best Frenchman in a field of three, and a poor third at that. He was utterly upstaged by Zinedine Zidane, whose influence was only seriously challenged by Ryan Giggs, while Didier Deschamps also did enough to close the case for Cantona being restored to the French national team.

His achievements for Manchester United are undeniable. His astute footballing brain, his ability to drift into unmarked spaces and find the angle and weight of pass to confuse defences, and his spectacular goals did much to win United the Premier League in 1993 and 1994. Last season, on returning to the side following an eight month ban for his kung fu attack on an abusive Crystal Palace fan, Cantona played in a cocoon of self restraint but still managed to find the net with a consistency that eventually undid the championship aspirations of Newcastle United.

George Graham once observed that Cantona was not the man for big occasions. This judgement was a mite glib and the goals Cantona scored at Newcastle and Wembley last season, goals which were fundamental to Manchester United's completion of a unique second league and FA Cup double, would appear to refute Graham's view.

Cantona, however, has yet to bestride football's larger international stages, and Wednesday night was a case in point. Even allowing for his present loss of form in general, he still seemed unable to respond to the greater challenge.

Against Juventus Alex Ferguson needed something extraordinary from his Frenchman and, again, he did not get it. For Cantona it was the perfect setting. Old Trafford had responded to the manager's plea for more passion with a fiesta of flags and songs. Most of the flags, moreover, bore Cantona's unmistakable features which made his muted contribution to the game all the more frustrating for the home crowd.

Cantona wasted three opportunities before clipping the Juventus crossbar with the most difficult chance that came his way. In the second half Giggs, using his speed to exploit space behind Torricelli, needed a foil in the middle for the threat he was posing to the Juventus defence on the left. But, Cantona could not provide one.

After watching matches like this the thought occurs that while, United have every reason to be grateful for Cantona the opposite applies. For in Ferguson and United the Frenchman found the one combination of manager and club prepared to allow his talent free rein while accepting his idiosyncrasies.

As a footballer in England Cantona is like Kipling's Man Who Would Be King, a senior NCO accepted as a god by natives who have never seen anything like him before. As a 10 franc philosopher he recalls Peter Sellers's gardener in being there except that against Juventus he wasn't.

It would be deeply ironic should the goal scored by Cantona in Istanbul, in his best Champions League match so far, to complete Manchester United's 2-0 victory over Fenerbahce prove to be the shot that takes them to the Champions League quarter finals. The superiority of that winning margin, compared to the 1-0 victory over United by Fenerbahce, will take Ferguson's team through if the teams finish level on points.

With group winners, Juventus hosting Fenerbahce and United visiting Rapid Vienna, that is not an unlikely scenario.