SOCCER UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:ALEX FERGUSON has enough harrowing memories to believe, as he has said many times, that starting a two-leg European tie with a 0-0 away draw is "a dangerous result". They are implanted in his mind, beginning with Real Madrid in 2000 and Monaco in 1998 and going back to a particularly wretched evening for Manchester United in 1995 when Rotor Volgograd drew 2-2 at Old Trafford and went through to the Uefa Cup second round on away goals.

Ferguson would rather think about what happened against Barcelona last season, when United reached the final with a 1-0 aggregate victory. That, however, is the only occasion in his 15 seasons of Champions League football that he has won from such a position, so the manager could be forgiven for regretting his team’s inability not to turn their superiority against Internazionale on Tuesday into the hard currency of goals.

Inter might have looked liked humdrum opponents but Old Trafford is facing a more difficult evening than was probably necessary, and their opponents will take encouragement from having accumulated 26 away goals this season compared to 18 at home.

One away goal on March 11th could do untold damage given that, in Ferguson’s 13 managerial contests with Jose Mourinho, United have never scored twice.

“It’s so evenly balanced,” said Rio Ferdinand. “If we’d nicked a goal in Milan we’d have made it difficult for them in the second leg, but it’s all to play for now. Whoever scores first will probably go through.”

All of which supports Mourinho’s version of events that the tie is “50-50” and the most important consideration is not the way United fizzed the ball about and got in behind the Italians’ defence, but the fact they did not score – and that teams who fail to score away goals in Europe often regret it.

Mourinho is Mourinho, but there is another set of statistics that tell the story of United being unbeaten for a record 20 Champions League matches, and of Old Trafford currently being the most formidable club stadium in Europe.

Arsenal’s opponents, Roma, will vouch for that after their 7-1 defeat in the quarter-final two seasons ago, and when Mourinho was asked why his team had started so nervously and talked of “a psychological problem” it was easy to wonder whether Italian teams had developed an inferiority complex about Ferguson’s team.

“It’s just a shame we couldn’t score that away goal because it could have been vital,” said Ryan Giggs. “We completely outplayed them in the first half and we were really pleased with the performance. We knew they would come out strongly in the second half, but we were still able to create chances.

“We looked good on the ball and there was great movement within the team. It’s still a tricky tie, and we would have liked to have scored that away goal. But if we perform like that at Old Trafford, then we will win.”

United did, after all, manage 15 shots at Julio Cesar’s goal, leaving a club that is on course for a fourth successive Serie A title to wake up to a barrage of headlines yesterday morning decrying their performance. La Repubblica, Italy’s second-biggest selling newspaper, reported that United “gave the impression of being superior in every area”, adding that “there was overwhelming evidence of the technical and tactical superiority of the European champions”.

“To come to San Siro and play the way we did against the best team in Italy is testament to us,” said Ferdinand. “The manager urged us to go out on the front foot and take the game to Inter and that’s what we did. We got our foot on the ball in midfield and started passing it around, although obviously we’d be in a better position had we finished one or two of the chances we created.”

Ferguson’s own mood was one of “disappointment” but the mood on the flight home is always a good indicator of the team’s feelings and the manager was reading his book, looking like he did not have a care in the world.

Meanwhile, Mourinho will not face disciplinary action for his remarks about the referee after the game. He was furious at Luis Medina Cantalejo’s performance and accused him of favouring United. A Uefa spokesman said: “There will be no action taken.”

It means Mourinho will not have a touchline ban for the second leg at Old Trafford on March 11th.

• Guardian Service