Whatever else happens in Moscow, there will surely be no echo of the 1999 final. Out of habit, people might talk about how Manchester United are up against opponents drilled in blocking Sir Alex Ferguson's players, but that is not a forecast so much as a glance into the past. Nowadays, it is the Old Trafford side themselves who grind their way to victory.
There was no alternative but to learn these arts. Until Tuesday evening, Ferguson had directed the club to the European Cup final just once in the 22 years of his tenure. In retrospect, that 1999 triumph over Bayern Munich has to be treated as a freak. If United had pinned their hopes of getting reacquainted with the trophy on that same, haphazard approach, the drought would have been endless.
Ferguson now has a side that can be dull and dogged. In the 1998-99 run to glory United scored 29 goals in the Champions League proper and conceded 16. Over the current campaign in the tournament, the team have hit 19 goals and let in a mere five. The conservatism is becoming more marked as the stakes get higher. United's 1-0 win against Barcelona was their fifth consecutive clean sheet in the knockout phase.
It was the visitors' coach, Frank Rijkaard, who was left to grumble about pragmatism, about the opposition's preference for retreat rather than taking up the challenge of competing directly with Barcelona's midfield. In the past, Ferguson could have been the one brooding and, with a pointed phrase here or there, reproaching a rival who had just beaten him for ignoring the ideals of football.
United, when the time is right, do continue to be exhilarating. Indeed, they expect, if all else fails, to reap the rewards of virtue by retaining the Premier League on goal difference over Chelsea. The priority for Ferguson has been to ensure that his team had another approach in its repertoire when circumstances altered. The squad had been tiring in mind and body as the programme wore on and for a few weeks United have been using up the lead they formerly had in the Premier League. Ferguson's target is no more ambitious than to scramble through for the title.
This aspect has been in his mind for years. United's record signing was made in 2002 when the manager handed £30m over to Leeds in return for Rio Ferdinand. Ferguson is fluent in the Old Trafford rhetoric, always available to pledge allegiance to the higher value of enterprising football. Quite often he means it, but the wish for a Champions League record even faintly reminiscent of Milan's, Real Madrid's or, for that matter, Liverpool's is an even deeper motivation.
The role of the defence when Chelsea landed the Premier League title in 2005 and 2006 was not lost on him. Jose Mourinho's approach had to be studied, if not emulated. Ferdinand was already in place, although it is only now that he is maturing fully on the pitch. Others have come through in haphazard fashion.
For a time, it seemed there might be no agreement with Wes Brown over a new contract. He did re-sign, however, and has begun to make onlookers recall that he was considered a future captain in his early days. Injuries scrambled his career, but the interceptions and clearances were critical against Barcelona. Brown was at the heart of the defence, rather than at full-back, because Nemanja Vidic was unable to recover after being dazed and bloodied at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.
Over the campaign, nonetheless, the concentration and decisiveness of the Serb with a low-risk approach to his work has complemented Ferdinand's style beautifully. When it comes to talent-spotting, the scouts must have been devoting much of their lives to researching defenders. The left-back Patrice Evra did appear a most peculiar candidate. His debut against Manchester City in January 2006 was so horrible that he was rescued as much as substituted at half-time in the 3-1 defeat. Prospects of him ever adapting looked improbable when he moaned about the food and the weather, revealing that his afternoons were spent wrapped up in a duvet. Nobody guessed then that he could be the indefatigable battler seen on Tuesday.
In goal, the 37-year-old Edwin van der Sar has days when he can look tentative, but his experience and composure vindicated the decision to bring him from Fulham. He and the entire back four can expect help both in United's personnel and tactics. Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes are all candidates for deep-lying roles. Ferguson, too, has followed the tactical trend that, with a single outright attacker, frequently sees United getting 10 men behind the ball.
These traits get attributed to the influence of Carlos Queiroz. Ferguson certainly listens to his assistant, but he will attend most of all to the voice in his head that tells him to do whatever it takes to win the European Cup again.
