Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has said he was close to joining Roberto Mancini's coaching team at Manchester City in 2009.
Rodgers and Mancini will face each other in the Europa League after the draw pitted Celtic against Zenit St Petersburg.
The former Swansea and Liverpool manager said he had discuissions with Mancini, who went on to win the Premier League title with City, before being offered the Swansea job.
"I was in talks with Manchester City about maybe going back there as a first-team coach," he said.
"I was rejected as a manager at Reading and was in between jobs and I didn't think I was going to get a manager's job.
"I spoke to the club, all went well and I flew out to Milan to meet Roberto. We had a nice chat and it ended up that not long after that I got the job at Swansea as a manager."
Rodgers, who took Swansea into the Premier League and came close to leading Liverpool to their first league title since 1990, has steered Celtic to a British record unbeaten run of domestic matches.
He said he was looking forward to seeing Mancini again when Celtic face Zenit at home in the first leg in February, with the return match being played a week later.
"We have come across each other since, he is a good guy, nice guy, but I haven't seen him for a couple of years now," the Celtic boss added.