The stage was set last night for a command performance by the two great young stars of European club football. What a shame, you could not help thinking, this meeting of two great clubs was not the final itself.
But there were no regrets in the keen anticipation of the contest between Cristiano Ronaldo, newly anointed the player of the year by his fellow Premiership professionals, and Ricky Kaka, whose gifts have been evident since he played a bit part in Brazil's 2002 World Cup victory.
Who would have guessed, however, that both would make such an immediate impact on the game? As each man played a part in the early exchange of goals, it looked as if they were as impatient as the spectators to stamp the evening with the imprint of their genius.
Ronaldo's decisive moment came in the most unexpected of ways. Alex Ferguson's decision to crowd his midfield and start the match with only Wayne Rooney as a front runner meant there was a vacancy for a striker in the penalty area as Ryan Giggs's right-wing corner floated over in the fifth minute, and there was Ronaldo jumping to meet it with a header that Dida could only push up into the air before scrambling back in a vain attempt to prevent it from crossing the line.
This was not the way Ronaldo had been expected to make his mark, but a couple of minutes later he made a more typical statement with an abrupt acceleration past Gennaro Gattuso and a shot from 25 yards that flew wide. Within seconds, deep in his own half, he was setting John O'Shea free with one of those sudden little square passes fashioned with the inside of a heel. And soon he would be forcing Paolo Maldini to deflect another shot for a corner.
It was Kaka who provided Milan's answer to Ronaldo's opening blow, before doubling the damage. First, running on to Clarence Seedorf's through pass, he went past Michael Carrick to get his shot away and past Edwin Van der Sar before Gabriel Heinze could get across to cover the danger. Then, moving sweetly on to a much longer ball, he slipped between Heinze and Patrice Evra as they collided before beating Van der Sar with a little dip of the shoulder and another shot struck calmly into the corner.
In between those strikes, so disconcerting to United, Ronaldo gave another glimpse of his unique gifts as he hit a swirling long-range drive that Dida could only beat away. Milan's defence against his runs was cleverly organised. Each time he advanced down the flanks he would be confronted by a duo of the full back and Gattuso, with Kaka, Andrea Pirlo and Seedorf ready to slip in from the blind side and nick the ball away.
Ronaldo played no part as Rooney chested down Paul Scholes's flick and struck United's equaliser 14 minutes into the second half. But by then every member of the home side was showing a greater urgency. The shape was the same, but the tempo and urgency had been raised - as had the volume of the noise inside Old Trafford.
Now, at last, United were living up to their finest traditions and to the best of the football that took them back to the top of the Premiership this season: football played with speed, flair and courage. Milan, with Maldini and Gattuso replaced by Daniele Bonera and Cristian Brocchi, respectively, were looking less assured in defence and far less likely to spring Kaka past the home defence again. Now the limitations of Alberto Gilardino, their centre-forward, were becoming apparent as he failed to hold up the ball.
As the evening drew to its conclusion, Heinze was producing a last-ditch tackle to dispossess Kaka and Ronaldo was drawing a desperate save from Dida before Rooney struck the winner.
