Manchester United remembered the art of doing nothing on Wednesday night when their 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich at Old Trafford proved sufficient to take them to the quarter-finals of the Champions League as one of the two best runners-up in the qualifying groups.
Once the Bayern bench, its antennae picking up news of relevant matches elsewhere, had let on that a point each would be enough United were happy to acquiesce with a footballing version of the Munich agreement and opt for peace until closing time.
As a rehearsal for what could lie ahead this may have been a useful exercise. In Europe, United's football could do with a wider variety of gear selections. Their pace is Formula One but in past Champions Leagues it has sometimes seen them spin off at the tighter bends.
What lies around the next corner for United will be known on Wednesday with the draw for the quarter-finals. In the evening Old Trafford will be treated to a European appetiser when Chelsea, these days as English as a bottle of Orvieto, are the visitors in yet another of the Premiership's summit meetings.
With last season's runners-up Juventus in the last eight, plus Internazionale, Olympiakos, Dynamo Kiev and Kaiserslautern, the Champions League field does not get any easier. United and Bayern cannot be drawn against each other at this stage; neither can United meet the holders Real Madrid, who also qualified as runners-up. Under the regulations, United must play their quarterfinal first leg on March 3rd at home.
If it is any comfort to United, Juventus squeezed through in second place last season and still reached the final. This time the Italian side have cut things even finer and nobody will be judging their prospects on some patchy performances in the group games.
The reality is that when the tournament starts up again in March, what happened before Christmas will be history. Teams will have found better form or forgotten they ever had any; some will also have bought new players, although Ferguson bridled when the possibility was put to him.
Certainly the United manager is entitled to be happier with the talent at his disposal compared to the situation he faced earlier this year when Monaco removed his team from the quarter-finals, going through on an away goal in a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford after being held 0-0 at home.
United were expected to win the tie but with Ryan Giggs unfit and Teddy Sheringham below par they had lost their earlier scoring power. And they were missing Roy Keane, whose subsequent return to fitness and omnipotent form now represents Ferguson's best chance of winning the Champions League before the tournament, in its latest guise, becomes a 17-match slog.
While the speed, understanding and prolific scoring habits of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole represent the bow wave in United's Champions League progress this season, Keane provides the underlying midfield strength which was missing last time.
Consider this: United led Barcelona four times in their two meetings but in each case had to settle for a 3-3 draw, and they have twice been held by Bayern after going in front. Even if one allows for the mutual convenience of Wednesday's result, the prevailing pattern is one which will harm United's chances if it is repeated now that the tournament has moved to the two-leg stage.
United are in the last eight for the third successive season mainly because they flattened the crumbling walls of Brondby's defence, winning 6-2 in Copenhagen and 50 at Old Trafford, while Bayern were beating Barcelona twice. Now they have to retain their striking power while learning to avoid the sucker punches which prospective Italian, Spanish, German, Greek or Ukrainian attacks will be only too happy to supply.
