Defined by grander games, Wayne Rooney and Bastian Schweinsteiger bypassed the UEFA Cup altogether for years. Players of their stature were rested for domestic cup games against lower-league opponents. Not now. Instead, Manchester United's Europa League meeting with Saint-Etienne and the FA Cup tie with Blackburn could provide outings for two men accustomed to bigger stages.

The fact they may figure in a weakened United side is an indication of demotion and decay. They have had careers in parallel, with considerable similarities, but they have taken very different paths to a similar destination this season. Both now reside within Jose Mourinho's squad but outside the first XI. Rewind six months, however, and Rooney was installed in the team while Schweinsteiger was training with the youth team.

Rooney was protected by his status and his past then; Schweinsteiger's legend is based in Germany, and his compatriots were the most vocal in their complaints when Mourinho exiled him. It would have been harder for the new United manager to treat a British hero the same way.

But now, men who went to Euro 2016 as captains of England and Germany respectively are on a par again. They are twinned as the two most decorated deputies of all, one promoted by Louis van Gaal and the other signed by him, but both facing uncertain futures as Mourinho shapes a more forceful, faster United.

They have slowed down, literally and figuratively, but while they are only 32 and 31 years old, it is unsurprising. They have played a combined 1,435 games for their clubs and countries. They have 240 caps, split almost equally (Schweinsteiger 121, Rooney 119) and while decline has come prematurely to the former teenage sensations, they have still lasted longer than most at the top.

Both sprung to prominence in the international game at the same time. A 19-year-old Schweinsteiger represented a rare cause for optimism in Germany's wretched Euro 2004 campaign that ended in the group stages; an 18-year-old Rooney spearheaded England's efforts with bullish bravado.

It was an early indication that while their club careers are comparable, their international records differ. After the anomaly of England outperforming Germany 13 years ago, a swift role reversal followed. Rooney's achievements were individual, Schweinsteiger's collective; the Englishman's in lesser fixtures and the German's in major tournaments.

Schweinsteiger played in the semifinals of six World Cups or European Championships; Rooney in none. Schweinsteiger has one man-of-the-match award from a World Cup final; Rooney has a solitary World Cup goal and just as many red cards in global competitions. Schweinsteiger is a World Cup winner from a true golden generation; Rooney a remnant of one that never reached their potential. Rooney may have scored an international record 53 goals, but Schweinsteiger's Germany made an indelible mark.

If they are opposites in that respect, they were equivalents on domestic duty, symbols of the biggest and most powerful clubs in their countries. Schweinsteiger won the Bundesliga eight times and nine domestic cups with Bayern Munich; Rooney five Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup with United.

Rooney and Schweinsteiger have been used to more of a starring role. Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

Between them, they played in every Champions League final between 2008 and 2013, each winning one and losing two. At least one of them figured in semifinals in each of the nine seasons from 2007 to 2015 -- they were constants at the business end of the most prestigious club competition.

Neither, arguably, was the best player in a Champions League-winning squad. That mantle at United in 2008 definitely rested with Cristiano Ronaldo, while at Bayern in 2013 it probably belonged to Arjen Robben, but for years Rooney and Schweinsteiger showed the footballing, physical and mental ability to flourish among Europe's best.

Individual recognition of sorts resulted: Rooney finished fifth in the 2011 Ballon d'Or voting, while Schweinsteiger's personal zenith in continent-wide popularity contests came in 2013 when he finished seventh in UEFA's Best Player in Europe award.

That was also the one time he was named Footballer of the Year in Germany; Rooney scooped the English honours once, in 2010. While he is 14 months younger, it illustrates his peak came earlier -- he was arguably at his best from 2007 until 2010 -- Schweinsteiger sustained his longer and dragged himself back to his best in the closing stages of the 2014 World Cup.

They are players whose immobility now leaves them looking limited, but who always seemed versatile. Schweinsteiger emerged as a midfielder equally capable of operating on either flank, became a hard-running box-to-box player and later an anchorman; Rooney took that duty at the end of Van Gaal's reign, had his finest season as a No. 9, would probably describe himself as a No. 10 and was Ronaldo's selfless sidekick on the wings.

Rooney is essentially a forward, explaining why he has more records and individual accolades, yet the breadth of Schweinsteiger's feats suggests he ranks as the greater of these icons turned understudies.