'But United, Milan's equals in the first leg, were largely outplayed this time as the Italians deserved their second narrow win of this last-16 Champions League tie. On-loan Chelsea striker Crespo was again the matchwinner, his superb hanging header on the hour defeating Rio Ferdinand's failure to challenge and Tim Howard's full-stretch dive.
Yet, despite United conjuring not a single effort on target, Ryan Giggs cracked a left-footer against the post amid Milan's first-half superiority. And that - apart from Roy Carroll's horrendous blunder to gift Crespo his winner two weeks ago - will be the moment United most rue.
Alex Ferguson's full-strength side soon reeled against Milan's dominance of possession, particularly as United rarely looked capable of keeping the ball themselves. True, their defence was almost always solid, Mikael Silvestre especially worthy for his number of blocks as AC surged forward.
Bizarrely, though, it was one of United's few attacks that offered Milan an early chance to seal the tie. Paul Scholes' stray pass was intercepted by Jaap Stam - superb against his former club - and the centre-back quickly fed Clarence Seedorf. The Holland star pressed forward as Silvestre and Ferdinand back-pedalled, then teed up Crespo, despite options to left and right, for a shot that Howard parried.
Ruud van Nistelrooy might not yet be match fit, but he held the ball up intelligently before releasing Giggs to his left after the Welshman raced past Cafu. The angle was tight, but the winger clipped his shot virtually as well as he could have hoped, watching it beat Dida and nick off the right post.
It was hardly Giggs' fault that what was barely more than a half-chance always appeared crucial, but it looked slightly easier than Crespo's winner.'