Manchester United cruised to a victory over Inter Milan with an early goal from Vidic in the third minute which sort of set the mood for the match and then a 48th minute strike from Ronaldo at the beginning of the second half, which ended all hope for the Italians. At a first glance, the scoreline would suggest that United comfortably outplayed their Italian opponents, but it wasn't quite like that.

Nemanja Vidic intercepted a precision corner from Welsh veteran Ryan Giggs in frantic first minutes in which United surged forward, and got their early goal. But with the goal in the bag, something happened in the cog, and United retreated.

Take away those two goals and for large spells, it was Mourinho's Inter who played coherent football, creating a string of chances which they missed and obviously greatly regret. It was Inter's inability to score a crucial away goal in over 45 minutes of play that led to the second strike of United and ultimately crushed them psychologically. 

First, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had an opportunity on goal that went wide off the left post, and then several minutes later, it was him again who struck the post with a header.  This was followed by Dejan Stankovic squandering a priceless chance and another attempt by Vieira.

Manchester United were almost unrecognisable at times on their own turf, lacking concentration, squandering possession, allowing the Italians far too much space and time on the ball. This window of opportunity which was granted to Inter however was not exploited.

The second half started just like the first: three minutes into the proceedings and out of nowhere, Cristiano Ronaldo rose to intercept a precision cross this time from Wayne Rooney and with all the effort, energy and determination invested by the Italians, suddenly they found themselves trailing 2-0.

Swift substitutions followed with Adriano coming in for Stankovic as Mourinho desperately needed an answer to what was unfolding before him on the pitch. It was a good call from the Special One, as with his first touch of the ball, Adriano almost gave the kiss of life to  the Italian champions as he fired Esteban Cambiasso's cross against the United woodwork. 

The visitors soon after capitulated mentally and United were reclaiming more ground by the minute.  As the Inter middle line disintegrated, Cesar displayed some amazing prowess to  deny Rooney's effort, which was followed by another shot from the Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov, and then a third from Ryan Giggs.

After the match, the Special One was quoted as saying by the United website:

"I'm honest in my way of analysing things and they (United) are better than us. My team played to their maximum of their potential. They couldn't have given any more.

"The result could have been completely different, yes, because Inter could have won the tie with a little bit of luck at the right moments.

"We had four big chances to score in the first half. We had a really big possibility of going in front (on away goals) with 1-1 at half-time. At the start of the second half they (United) did nothing to score the second goal, but they did it.