Will Ferguson act first or be forced to react second?

FOR a man often so assured, Alex Ferguson was oddly cautious.

Even more curiously, it was after an identical attitude from his team saw them leave Real Madrid with what many perceived as a fine score. Not the Manchester United manager, however.

“A lot of people on our side of the fence thought 0-0 was a good result but I was disappointed and worried,” Ferguson said of that first-leg draw in the 1999-2000 Champions League quarter-finals. “I could sense the rain coming.”