If his message was almost certainly surplus to requirements, Diego Simeone was doing his bit to up the ante when Inter Milan made a belated arrival into Manchester for this evening's European Champions League quarterfinal first-leg tie at Old Trafford.

For all the frenzy of the preliminary skirmishing, the meeting of Manchester United and the Italian aristocrats promises to raise this year's championship to a new level.

Fifty five thousand fans inside the stadium and a television audience of millions will watch a game which, even by Old Trafford standards, fits easily into any list of the most hyped in history.

Not the most appropriate occasion, one would have thought, for a visiting player to make a provocative statement. And yet Simeone chose to reopen tender wounds and relive the incident which led to David Beckham's dismissal during England's World Cup defeat by Argentina last summer.

Confirming that he was one of the many who conned referees into precipitative action during France 98, Simeone said: "Just say the referee fell into a trap," in a reference to his theatrical collapse after Beckham had kicked him.

"It was a difficult decision for the referee to make in a tense situation but you could say that by falling the way I did, I transformed a yellow card into a red one for Beckham.

"It was not a violent blow, just an instinctive kick back at me. The referee was right in punishing his intention to retaliate but he didn't deserve to be sent off."

With the astonishing timing of that admission the Argentinian skipper has untapped a flood of resentment among those who felt that Beckham was unfairly vilified after the World Cup finals. But if the prospect of walking out of the Old Trafford dressing rooms this evening intimidates Simeone, it wasn't immediately obvious.

"I adore it when opposing fans whistle at me - it really fires me up. And I know it will be the same in this game."

Not for years has there been anything in football to parallel the impending rematch of Beckham and the man with a scowl which doesn't readily invite argument. But it should not detract from the main plot in this meeting of two of Europe's top teams.

With their championship challenge irreparably damaged and only faint pretence to Cup fulfilment, Inter have known better times. And without the inspirational presence of the injured Brazilian Ronaldo, who is due to arrive here today with the club chairman Massimo Moratti, rehabilitation does not appear to be readily at hand.

Still, when Alex Ferguson spoke yesterday of a wounded tiger, the impression was of genuine apprehension rather than an exercise in semantics.

"People say they are having a bad season but everything is relative," he said. "I look at their team, examine the quality they have in every part of it and come to only one conclusion: given the opportunity, they are capable of turning anybody over."

Ferguson was still careful, however, to thread the line between respect and the responsibility to be positive enough to build the kind of lead that will sustain them in the return game at San Siro in a fortnight's time.

"This is our chance to give ourselves a cushion for the second game and that has to be reflected in the way we go about the job now."

His game plan will be to get Inter onto the back foot at an early stage and deny players who may be in need of some self assurance the comfort of an easy start.

Central to that strategy will be the success of Roy Keane's mission in central midfield and the ability of Ryan Giggs to reproduce the verve which, despite an unlucky sequence of injuries, has established him as a more complete player in European competition this season.

Giggs in full spate is still one of Ferguson's biggest assets, an incisive runner now fitted by experience to punish defences when the initial opening has been created.

Keane's strengths derive less from the capacity to sting the opposition in moments of high inspiration than the perception and physical presence which puts him at the very heart of United's power game.

There is, too, the considerable bonus of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole up front, one enjoying an eventful first season at the club, the other embarked on a renaissance after the high promise of his move from Newcastle had deviated into a searching test of character.

If there has been a recurring frailty in United's European campaign so far, it has been their inability to protect seemingly winning leads, a point painfully illustrated in Peter Schmeichel's late blunder in the 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium.

That was scarcely the stuff of champions in the making and for all Inter's recent problems, there is sufficient threat in Mircea Lucescu's probable front line trio of Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Zamorano and, not least, Roberto Baggio to pin a heavy price on similar mistakes now.

Jaap Stam has grown in authority in central defence and if Giggs gets it right on the night, United may have a cushion for the return meeting of the heavyweights on March 17th.