'These are times when Manchester United's supporters must be uncertain whether they should be elated or crestfallen. There is no doubt Sir Alex Ferguson's team have the swaggering look of potential champions but the jubilation after every victory lasts only as long as it takes for the electronic scoreboard to flash up Chelsea's score.
As far as the title goes, Ferguson must rapidly be coming to the conclusion that his players have peaked too late. On current form they look like providing a more robust challenge to Chelsea than Arsenal but any one-upmanship over Arsène Wenger must be laced with regret when Ferguson turns his mind back to the number of times before Christmas that he felt compelled to berate his players for their level of performance.
He can console himself with the thought that, whereas the Premiership is a test of longevity, the Champions League goes to the team with the most impeccable sense of timing. There have been times this season when the idea of United returning the European Cup to Old Trafford has seemed faintly preposterous but this is not one of them, even with the formidable Milan to play in the last 16. Ferguson's side appear to have all the basic requirements, with no obvious flaws, a growing self-belief and the right balance of creativity in attack and hard-headedness in defence.
Milan's infiltrators inside Old Trafford on Saturday might have been taken aback by the inability of Wayne Rooney to accept one of at least three presentable opportunities, and even more so by the frequency with which Roy Keane uncharacteristically squandered possession in the first half. Yet the Italian delegation would surely have been engulfed with foreboding when considering the options available to Ferguson in attack and the fact that, Rooney aside, his most penetrative players are reaching their most exhilarating peaks at the same time.'