The Champions League games this week were among the most Jekyll and Hyde games you can see in any season. None more so than the Milan - Manchester United game.

Casting even a cursory glance at Man United's recent experiences against Milan could tell you one thing - Milan won the psychological battle every time. Despite their ageing squad and perceived slowness, they handed out footballing lessons to Man United 3 out of the 4 games. The scoreline may have been 1-0 or 3-0 but the level of comfort and domination was much the same. In the fourth game, United were on a massive high, having just demolished Roma 7-1 at home. Yet, Milan ran it close, losing 3-2 to a late Rooney goal at Old Trafford. Of course, in the return leg, they played United off the park, decimating the Red Devils 3-0.

Going into this game, it was obvious that the outcome would depend on which Manchester United turned out for the game. If it was the frightened, awe-struck version, then Milan would once again, dominate. If however, Man United played as they can, without worrying about the stature and pomp of their oppositions, they could probably win it comfortably.

In the event, we got both versions. For the first 45 minutes and the last 15 minutes, we had the nervous and out of depth Manchester United, who gave the ball away, couldn't pass, couldn't cross, couldn't defend and kept getting split open by the simplest of moves. In that time, Milan scored two goals, one at each end and created another half a dozen great chances.

In the 30 minutes that Man United took the game to AC Milan, it looked like they could run rings around them and score at will. In that comparatively short time, United scored 3 times. starting with Paul Scholes' brilliant trick of bamboozling Milan with an air kick while letting the ball hit his standing leg to wrongfoot the goalkeeper (eat your heart out, Ronaldinho). And then 2 sublime and deceptively simple goals by Rooney, the destroyer in chief.

And then almost with a click of the finger, like Danny Kaye in the Court Jester, United were converted to a snivelling, gormless and amateurish side, reacting mindlessly to wave upon wave of Milan attacks. If you were predicting the score through the match, you might have thought 1-0 Milan, 2-0 Milan, 4-0 Milan, and then in the second half, 4-1 or 5-1 to Man United.

That the score ended at 3-2 was some measure of justice for AC Milan's all out offensive play. They took the field with effectively 3 strikers - Ronaldinho, Pato and Huntelaar. None of these players had any inclination to drop back to help with midfield or defence. Which should have allowed Man United to dominate the midfield, but they couldn't stop giving the ball away, which didn't really help the cause.

Nani had a poor game, which was quite unfortunate as he had shown excellent form over the past few games. But he probably fell prey to the psychological factor and could neither get past his man or send in a decent cross. It must have given Sir Alex no end of satisfaction to send in Valencia to get such an instant result.

How will the second leg pan out? United now have created an all time record for a sequence of away games without defeat. They are also notoriously hard to beat at home. Milan will need to play out of their skins to get a 2 goal margin or score at least 3 goals, without making themselves vulnerable to more destruction of the Rooney kind.

Ronaldinho was Milan's key threat all evening. And Man United couldn't seem to cut off the supply line to Ronaldinho. This will be key to the second leg, one feels. Rafael had a good game by any standards but was still beaten on a few occasions by the sublime skill of the Brazilian who could have come to Old Trafford. Beckham also provided his share of crosses, but it always looked like Ferdinand and Evans could deal with them. Ronaldinho's trickery was a different matter altogether and will surely be a factor at Old Trafford.

One of the key changes I would expect is for Fletcher to be reinstated in the middle of the pitch, with Park going back out wide. There could also be a role for Berbatov as a creator with Scholes also sitting deeper, in the absence of Carrick. Berbatov should bring a level of composure which United lacked sorely in large parts of the game at the San Siro.

Although we must doff our hats to Clarence Seedorf, the 34 year old who came on late and did what Pato, Huntelaar and co couldn't manage all game - score. It gave Milan a whiff of a chance for the second leg and kept the tie alive. And while Milan have a lot of firepower and wiles on their side, it's hard to see Man United not nicking the second leg as well. They just have to calm their nerves and pretend that they're playing Arsenal - Dida will do the rest!