Bolton Wanderers - 1 Manchester Utd - 1 At the end of one of the most controversy-stained periods of an incident-strewn era at Old Trafford, Manchester United played under a malevolent shadow. However hard they tried to outrun the events of the previous week, it appeared they could hardly run at all.
It was not David Beckham and the boot, nor Alex Ferguson's revelations about Sven-Goran Eriksson, that brought the team down but their victory over Juventus on Wednesday, a night when United fought their way to victory, sweating and suffering, while Bolton recovered on a week-long training camp in Dubai.
This was Bolton's first game in a fortnight. Since their last match ended, United had played four. "They'd been in Dubai, sunning themselves, resting," said Ferguson. "They looked fresh, strong and well prepared. It shows the advantage they had. They were a handful." United, meanwhile, were tired, turbid and terrible.
Yet Ferguson made some peculiar decisions.
Why, for example, did he abandon the rigid 4-4-2 that has lain behind all his greatest moments, allowing Ryan Giggs - once again linked with a move to Internazionale over the weekend - a free role he had little idea what to do with?
Why did he play so many unfit players for so long while their healthy understudies sat idle?
And most specifically, why did Roy Keane, his mind willing but his body not able, complete the game while Nicky Butt spent all but nine minutes on the bench? Four months after his hip operation, Keane has had to remodel his game to prolong his career. Now he sits in the centre-circle bossing his team-mates around, possibly practising for a future career.
"If you had asked me two years ago about management I would have told you it wasn't even on my mind," said Keane, who is 32 in August. "Now as I have got a bit older, I have spoken to Steve McClaren and one or two other people and started to think along those lines, about getting my coaching badges and being a manager some day. It is a road I think I would like to go down but again it is dangerous thinking too far ahead. But being a manager does appeal to me."
One thing the United captain will not have missed then was that, in Youri Djorkaeff and Jay-Jay Okocha, Bolton had the game's two finest attacking players, a rare combination of fantasy and application.
It was as if the sunshine the players had soaked up had remained within them, waiting to be let out. On a cold windy day, Bolton simply shone. Ricardo Gardner on the left wing was skilful and direct, and all four defenders played well. There cannot have been many better, more classy performances by a relegation-threatened side in this or any other season.
From the third minute, when Bernard Mendy bent in the game's best cross, chances flowed. Bruno N'Gotty's goal, when it came, aided by a rash rush from Fabien Barthez to Djorkaeff's free-kick, was horribly overdue.
But 10 seconds before the end of the 90 minutes, victory was thrown away, Bolton's seventh such slip of the season. Gardner passed to Gary Neville when he could and should have cleared to safety, Keane then sent Beckham clear on the right and his low centre found Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United could be celebrating their first silverware of the season on Sunday. In the meantime, they must limp to Turin on Tuesday. Not that they are the only ones with a complaint.
"Our fixture list has become horrendous," said Bolton's manager, Sam Allardyce. "It's two weeks from game to game. We've been dealt a bit of a cruel blow by having not enough games in this period." He was not taking the mickey even if, for much of the afternoon, his team were.
Guardian Service
BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, N'Gotty, Bergsson, Laville, Charlton, Okocha, Campo, Gardner, Mendy (Barness 82), Pedersen (Salva 57), Djorkaeff (Nolan 85). Subs Not Used: Poole, Andre. Booked: Campo. Goals: N'Gotty 61.
MANCHESTER UTD: Barthez, Gary Neville, Brown (Phil Neville 74), Ferdinand, O'Shea, Beckham, Keane, Veron (Butt 80), Giggs (Forlan 57), van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer. Subs Not Used: Ricardo, Fletcher. Booked: Keane. Goals: Solskjaer 90.
Referee: A D'Urso (Essex).
