United and Bayern Munich have broken clean away and should the German champions be beaten at Old Trafford for the first time, qualification for a sixth successive quarter-final will be assured. Even if Bayern’s coach, Ottmar Hitzfeld, continues his hold over United in Manchester, Ferguson would simply need a draw in Oporto’s Bessa Stadium; assuming Boavista can beat Nantes away from home, which the United manager doubted. If Boavista lose, then United are already through.However, his opposite number at Nantes, Angel Marcos, who did not deserve to see a young, often experimental side demolished so emphatically at Old Trafford, thought that against better teams than his, United’s defensive frailties might be badly exposed.”Manchester United have added a lot of class and technical ability with Laurent Blanc and Juan Sebastian Veron, they can play the long-ball game or the short passing one equally well,” the Nantes coach said. “But we had six or seven chances to score with a very young team Maybe they need a better balance between defence and attack.

If they come up against a side with more experience than us, then they might be stretched.”In terms of raw statistics, Manchester United are performing in attack and defence much as they did in the two Champions’ League seasons after they won the European Cup – scoring around 1.5 goals a game and conceding less than one per match.In 1999, the year United carried off the trophy, in 11 games, they kept just two clean sheets, conceded 16 goals but scored 27 times – finding the net in every fixture. Last year Bayern arrived at the European Cup in a more conventional way, conceding a mere 12 goals in 17 matches.It would have escaped few at Old Trafford that the first time Ferguson chose to revert to a 4-4-2 formation in a significant European match this season, it paid dividends in the scoreline, despite the creakiness of some of the defensive play. The exchanges between Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ruud van Nistelrooy put you in mind of the understanding between Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole in the treble-winning side.”He has had a fantastic season,” said Ferguson of Solskjaer, whose return of 17 goals in 20 games – 13 of which have been as a substitute – would have captured the headlines in most teams other than United. “He has got stronger, his understanding of the game is improving all the time and, tactically, he is terrifically aware.

I thought he and Ruud were brilliant.”With qualification almost assured and with a relatively straightforward Premiership fixture against Derby looming, Ferguson indicated he might rest Van Nistelrooy and give Diego Forlan a start.The United manager made a point of praising the young Uruguayan, even though a Van Nistelrooy or a Solskjaer would surely have put away the glaring chance Forlan squandered late in the second half. Nevertheless, players brought from South America need time to adapt, as Juan Pablo Angel and even Veron have demonstrated.On Tuesday night, the Argentine gave his most convincing performance for United in European football and it may not have been a coincidence that he was playing in a conventional 4-4-2 system for the first time. Even Van Nistelrooy and Veron, great players that they are, cannot be stretched indefinitely.GROUP A PWDLFAPts Man Utd42201038 Bayern Munich4220318 Boavista4112144 Nantes4013261 Results: Bayern Munich 1 Manchester United 1; Boavista 1 Nantes 0; Manchester United 3 Boavista 0; Nantes 0 Bayern Munich 1; Boavista 0 Bayern Munich 0; Nantes 1 Manchester United 1; Bayern Munich 1 Boavista 0; Manchester United 5 Nantes 1.Remaining fixtures: 13 March: Manchester United v Bayern Munich; Nantes v Boavista. Short of a nuclear launch, Manchester United would have been hard pushed to make more of a bullish statement of their re-gathered power than the 5-1 thrashing of Nantes. Had they gone to that length, no doubt they would have chosen David Beckham to press the button. Indeed, some would say that Ferguson’s return to a command unencumbered by his self-inflicted status as a lame duck is a gift that the club by and large do not deserve.Except, that is, in the vital matter of their keeping faith in the manager when his instincts and policies did not yield the quick fix that had been hoped for when he first came down from his lair in Aberdeen.