After Manchester United emerged from the cauldron of the Bernabeu with a creditable 1 – 1 draw two and a half weeks ago, the general consensus was that the advantage lies with the Reds.

Alex Ferguson played his hand well in the first leg by ceding 55 per cent of possession to Jose Mourinho’s team. And although United rode their luck at times, Real were predictably pedestrian in the second half when they tried to pick apart a deep-lying defence.

But in many ways the return leg at Old Trafford suits Mourinho’s counter-attacking unit more than it did in the Bernabeu. There is always a temptation for the home side to be more expansive. But like the first leg, Ferguson should be wary of whole-heartedly submitting to his attacking instincts even in front of a home crowd.

Despite the fact that United were on the back foot, they still managed nine shots on target, including a couple of chances from Robin Van Persie that could have gone in but for a Xabi Alonso goal line clearance and the width of a crossbar.

The shape that Ferguson chooses from the start will be interesting. If you examine the average on-field positions of United’s players two weeks ago, it was a narrow formation that saw Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney tucking in from either flank in the knowledge that Alvaro Arbeloa in particular would not provide much danger from full back. It was only late on that Antonio Valencia and Ryan Giggs were brought on to stretch their opponents’ jittery rearguard.  

Real Madrid were quite narrow and only became increasingly compact when Pepe indirectly replaced Angel Di Maria.

Although Arbeloa was not much of an attacking threat, many of Real’s forward forays started at right back, with their most frequent pass going from the Spain international to Sami Khedira who tended to link up with Mesut Ozil and Di Maria. However Real’s best chances in the first half coincided with more direct passes to Ozil particularly from deep on the left side.

Further forward on that flank, danger man Cristiano Ronaldo did not get involved in the build-up play but in the first half at least, he was a threat migrating from the touchline to finish moves, particularly when he isolated up against Rafael.

However in the second half he was dealt with admirably by Phil Jones who moved across from the area in front of the United back four to help Rafael. Jones’ fitness will be paramount if United are to keep their former star quiet.

The Portguese winger was in devastating form in Wednseday's Clasico as Barcelona left him acres of pace to utilize his pace and power. But if space is cut off, Ronaldo lacks the natural guile to make a consistent impact.