Saturday's Champions Cup final sees Jonathan Sexton come up against the coach who he once accused of being too minded to "look after himself".
When Sexton's two-year spell at the club then known as Racing Metro came to an end, joint-coach Laurent Labit delivered to the local media a withering assessment of the Irish out-half's attitude during his stint in Paris.
"He (Sexton) didn’t always perform for Racing and he knew it," started Labit. "And it irritated him very much.
"Jonathan had the tendency to employ a rather forceful manner and use a colourful language in the heat of the moment. Sometimes it bordered on insults. At some moments Jonathan was really uncontrollable.
"When things didn’t work as he had hoped, he was hyper sensitive. Several times I had to remind him that there are certain ways of saying things. Jonathan had the tendency to employ a strong manner and a very colourful language in the heat of the action.
"Sometimes it was on the verge of insult. At times, Jonathan was really uncontrollable. When we ran plays, if someone forgot his role, he was capable of giving them a bollocking.
"No matter what had happened before, he gave them a roasting. Sometimes I tore out my hair. Johnny is someone who is perpetually putting everything in question, and who obliges you to be constantly on alert."
And so, Sexton's drive and perfectionism and his sometimes barking manner on the pitch, often lauded up here, were re-cast as intimidating and oppressive in the French capital.
Not only that, the French press alleged that Sexton took the 'that's it Paddy, tell them nothin'!' approach to interacting with his teammates. Midi Olimpique claimed that Sexton was unwilling to "pass on his knowledge" to the rest of the dressing room.
Perhaps the most damning - in the eyes of rugby men at least - quote was offered to Midi Olimpique by a player called 'anonymous'.
"He's like the Zlatan Ibrahimovic of rugby."
To the French, Sexton evidently gave off the vibe of a teenager forced by circumstance to move schools and who never got over his resentment at his new surroundings.
This narrative was supported by a book produced by Sexton in the summer of 2013, in which he made exquisitely clear his unhappiness at leaving Leinster.
He bluntly admitted that he wasn't happy with the money the union were offering, which left him well shy of the best paid players at the province.
Jacky Lorenzetti came along and offered him more than double what the IRFU were dangling in front of him.
While Sexton can hardly deny that in a perfect world, he'd never have played for Racing - at least at that time - he does dispute the portrait of his personality sketched by 'certain French journalists' and his ex-coach.
"I does hurt when it is not true. I don't mind when people criticise my performance because that is black and white. But when they make up stuff about your personality and portray you as I don't think I am, that can hurt.
"It probably came from the coach who is probably trying to look after himself a little bit."
"Sexton's experience is cited as a rationale for the hardening of Ireland's unofficial policy of picking players based in the country"
Racing Metro achieved little during Sexton's two seasons at the club. They reached the playoffs both years in the Top 14 but failed to make the final either time. They couldn't escape the pool phase in the 2013-14 Heineken Cup and lost at home to Saracens in the quarter-final the next year.
Sexton got a taste of the heavy load players in the Top 14 have to carry. He played 12 games in a row at the beginning of the 2013-14 season and four years later, Joe Schmidt was still saying the toll left a permanent negative impact on his 'resilience'. Sexton's experience is cited as a rationale for the hardening of Ireland's unofficial policy of picking players based in the country.
There was talk of four year deals in Paris being shoved in front of Sexton but before he'd even started his second year, he'd ensured it would be his last.
On September 2014, it was announced he'd be returning to Leinster on a four-year deal, commencing the following season.
Leinster had engaged Denis O'Brien to make sure they were competitive on the wage front the next time around and Sexton's salary in Dublin now matched or exceeded what the French were paying.
In the summer of 2015, Sexton returned home and Racing Metro 92 were re-named Racing 92. (The name doesn't hint at a year of foundation or anything like that but rather references the number of the administrative division of Paris in which the club are based - not especially romantic, if truth be told.) On Saturday, the pair meet in the Champions Cup final.
Since his return home, Sexton has ticked the Grand Slam box - he was a year late for the previous one - and has occupied centre-stage on one of the most scintillating sides in European club rugby history, ie. the current Leinster one.
The consensus view among laymen observers is that the needle with the French has only escalated. Sexton shipped very heavy bangs against France in the 2015 World Cup pool game in Cardiff and then again in the narrow loss in Paris in the 2016 Six Nations.
The former, a ferocious hit from Louis Picamoles, ultimately ended his World Cup and the latter, a horrendously cynical 'cheap shot' by Yoann Maestri, had even the disinterested English press editorialising for days afterwards. The Daily Telegraph wrote that France were guilty of 'brutal targeting' of Sexton over a number of games.
Sexton turns 33 in July and is thought to be in the final stretch of his career. Most are assuming the 2019 World Cup as the natural end-point of his international career and excitable types are already fantasising about a slightly older Joey Carbery running the Irish backline in the 2020s.
At Leinster these days, one golden generation seems to be constantly running into another and the younger guy will soon grow more impatient about inheriting the prized No 10 jersey, even if Carbery, outwardly at least, seems to lack the obvious ambition and snarl of Sexton in his earlier years. And later years, to be honest.
The ebullient Stuart Lancaster doesn't appear to have gotten the memo that Sexton is nearing the twilight stage of his career, or if he has, he's ripped it up.
As Sexton told RTÉ recently, Lancaster is yammering in his ear that he could still be playing at 40.
He didn't sound personally distressed by the idea.
First things first, however. And at the weekend, the Zlatan Ibrahimovic of rugby will look to become part of what would be a very small group of players with four European Cup medals.
Follow Leinster versus Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final via our live blog on RTÉ.ie and the News Now App from 4pm, or listen to live coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 as Saturday Sport comes from Bilbao.
