As expected, the circus surrounding David Beckham's return to Old Trafford with Milan became little more than a sideshow as United stormed to a 4-0 win on the night and 7-2 on aggregate.
At least, that's what happened in footballing terms. As the former England skipper has proven time and again, he knows how to find a positive spin for everything he does, his latest canny PR move being to don an anti-Glazer scarf at the end of the match.
Wayne Rooney's second goal just after the break, his fourth of the tie, meant the home crowd could concentrate all their second-half efforts on the ongoing protests against United's reviled American owners.
This mainly took the form of twirling those natty little green-and-gold scarves above their heads and chanting 'Love United, hate Glazer'. While there is deep sentiment and real meaning behind the song, it is undermined a little by the fact that it is chanted to such a jaunty tune.
Despite it being the most high-profile match in which the increasing wave of anti-Glazer (three Premier League titles, one Champions League, two Carling Cups) dissent could be heard, it all felt a little redundant.
Until, that was, the Newton Heath brigade found themselves a new celebrity fan.
As he made his way off the pitch following his 30-minute cameo, a scarf found its way to Beckham and he did not need to think twice about donning it as he applauded his old fans on the way to the tunnel.
Beckham said afterwards: "I'm a Man United fan. I saw the scarf there. I put it round my neck, it's the old colours of Man United, that's all I knew.
"To be honest it's (the protest) not my business."
Of course, David. Such is the frequency with which he professes his love for United, even before Milan were drawn against them this season there is no way he could have failed to know why the fans were wearing them.
Still, perhaps he shouldn't be seen to publicly bash the club's American owners too much. After all, he will soon return to LA Galaxy, where he will see out his $200m+ contract - something for which he has had his share of stick from the club's fans in the past.
As with so much else in his career, he may have verbally denied any intent behind his actions, but ensured that the images were clear for all to see.
Beckham's England team-mate Rooney may have netted his 30th goal of the season, but Beckham made sure that he and the scarf got their fair share of space on this morning's back pages.
Beckham then added that he's a Manchester United fan: "I'm a Manchester United fan. I support the club. I always have done and I always will do. It's nothing to do with me the way everything is run, that's to do with other people but I'm a Man United fan and I support the team. I will always support them."
Beckham has always maintained he has no interest in moving into management when he finally hangs up his boots, to the surprise of no one and perhaps even the relief of quite a few people.
However, with his oft-repeated love of United and Scrooge McDuck-style vault of cash to retire on, if the Red Knights do ride in to 'rescue' the club and need a little cash injection a few years down the line, would you bet against him moving upstairs?
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I've never lost two keepers in a night before. Stephen has been playing with a back injury and it seized up so he had to come off. Saul was doing well until he got sent off. But Robbie wasn't getting a kick in midfield so we thought he was the best candidate. Robbie's had an hour breather now as well. When you go down to 10 men and are 3-1 down you are already planning for the next game and we've only got two-and-a-half days to prepare now." - Nigel Clough reveals that the reason he put Robbie Savage in goal after losing both of his goalkeepers was to give him a rest.
FOREIGN VIEW: "Adios Champions League, adios Pellegrini - Madrid complete yet another European failure, again in the last 16... six years of saying goodbye at the first hurdle... prestige in the old continent is lost, and it will not be easy to recover" - Marca makes its feelings clear following Real Madrid's exit at the hands of Lyon.
COMING UP: After the two drubbings handed out by English sides already this week, perhaps we'll get some more competitive games in the Europa League. The last 16 kicks off with live text commentary of Lille v Liverpool at 18:00, followed by Juventus v Fulham at 20:05. You can follow scoring of the rest of the action throughout the evening, and bet on any of tonight's matches at Eurosport Bet.