Manchester Utd. 0 Bayern Munich 0:The luck of the draw enabled Manchester United to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League here last night. Not so much the prosaic scoreless encounter they shared with Bayern Munich as the 1-1 result from Nantes, where Boavista had needed to win to prevent the leading pair from going through.
Meetings between these sides have become regular reunions of seasoned European foot-sloggers, and last night was United's chance to steal a march on Bayern by getting to the knock-out stage first. But to do so they needed to remember old lessons rather than plan a new syllabus.
Stefan Effenberg and Jens Jeremies were there again to remind Alex Ferguson's players of the importance of maintaining parity in midfield, if not taking outright command. And surely United had not forgotten how poor marking allowed Paulo Sergio to score a late winner for Bayern at Old Trafford in last season's quarter-finals.
United trusted that the principal difference this time would be Ruud van Nistelrooy. Not that the Dutchman's prolific form appeared to inhibit Bayern whose coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld, had the Peruvian Claudio Pizarro flanked by Roque Santa Cruz and Paulo Sergio in an attacking three.
It took the game a while to advance from being a tight tug-of-war around the halfway line, across which Roy Keane and Effenberg eyed each other warily, like border guards.
Owen Hargreaves, Bayern Munich's Canadian-born England international, was causing Mikael Silvestre difficulty on the right, but otherwise the only early threats to either goal came from the set piece. If Bayern had an edge it stemmed from Keane and Juan Sebastian Veron being outnumbered by their middle three, which gave them men to spare.
United did not create even a half-chance until midway through the first half. Then Ryan Giggs exploited some sharp passing by Van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with an ambitious dribble which took him past two defenders only for the ball to roll off his right foot as he shot.
The more United were inclined to play the ball long and high towards Van Nistelrooy and Solskjaer the more Bayern must have felt that they were getting their opponents' measure. This tactic tends to make Giggs and David Beckham peripheral figures on the wings, although Giggs's speed was always likely to be a threat to Bayern through the middle.
Little, however, would threaten Bayern unless United tidied up passing which had become uncharacteristically vague and slipshod. Successive bludgeoning fouls on Effenberg by Keane and Solskjaer offered a hint of United's growing frustration.
Nevertheless, the opening minute of the second half managed to rouse Old Trafford rather more than the 45 which preceded it. Keane won the ball and sent Giggs on another dash. The Welshman skipped through a gap to produce a low, left-footed drive which, if nothing else, gave Oliver Kahn a first chance to demonstrate his goalkeeping class.
As Bayern sensed the safety of a draw so Manchester United found their attacks being smothered in a grey blanket. There was no shortage of perspiration, but inspiration was what was needed and no one could find it.
Guardian Service
MAN UTD: Barthez, Gary Neville, Johnsen, Blanc, Silvestre, Beckham, Veron, Keane, Giggs, van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer (Forlan 78). Subs Not Used: Carroll, Irwin, Butt, Phil Neville, Scholes, Fortune. Booked: Blanc, van Nistelrooy.
BAYERN MUNICH: Kahn, Kuffour, Linke, Robert Kovac, Lizarazu, Hargreaves, Effenberg, Jeremies (Fink 73), Santa Cruz (Zickler 77), Pizarro, Sergio (Elber 83). Subs Not Used: Dreher, Sagnol, Sforza, Tarnat.
Referee: G Veissiere (France).
