The pressure was off, Edwin van der Sar was welcomed in the directors’ box as a returning hero and Ferguson’s young team – whose average age totalled 23.8 years – were able to play with the carefree abandon that marked their early season performances.
It all felt too comfortable but Ferguson, happy to use this competition as a priceless source of European experience for his emerging stars, will be the first to accept that learning in the backwaters can only take a player so far.
A last 16 tie against Bilbao at the raucous Estadio San Mamés on Mar 15 will raise the bar, but nobody at United will be kidding themselves that it will be a challenge comparable to recent excursions to the San Siro, Stade Velodrome or Allianz Arena.
Still, United’s victory in the Amsterdam ArenA had been earned by their ability to take advantage of Ajax’s lack of attacking threat, so they had created their own comfort zone.
And their breathing space was increased within six minutes of the second-leg when Javier Hernández claimed his fourth goal in four games to put United 3-0 ahead on aggregate.
The goal had been sparked by Ji-sung Park intercepting a loose ball in midfield and laying the ball off to Dimitar Berbatov, whose pass found Hernández 30 yards from goal.
Having turned Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld, Hernández broke into the penalty area before beating goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer from 12 yards.
With the energetic Tom Cleverley injected pace and creativity to United’s midfield, Ajax were forced to repel heavy pressure before gaining a foothold in the game.
And the Dutch champions were rewarded for their persistence on 37 minutes when forward Aras Ozbiliz made it 1-1 on the night with a left-foot strike from 20 yards following a mis-clearance by Phil Jones.
Cleverley went close to restoring United’s lead three minutes before half-time, however, when his long range shot was palmed away by Vermeer.
With Ajax starting brightly in the second-half, driven on by captain Jan Vertonghen and the adventurous full-back Ricardo van Rhijn, the lack of experience within the United ranks began to tell.
Park, captain in the absence of Patrice Evra, was a man alone as he attempted to stem the flow of Ajax attacks while his younger, less defensively-minded colleagues, left the Korean to protect the back four on his own.
The alarm bells were beginning to ring and, with Davd de Gea forced to tip Siem de Jong’s header over the crossbar on 57 minutes, Ferguson chose to act, by withdrawing Cleverley and Ashley Young in favour of Paul Scholes and Jonny Evans.
The switch enabled Jones to bolster midfield alongside Scholes and tighten a screw which had been loosened by the wanderings of Cleverley and Young.
As promising as he may be, Cleverley’s game still lacks the defensive discipline required to excel at the top level and Ajax highlighted his deficiencies in front of the watching England caretaker-manager, Stuart Pearce.
When Alderweireld headed Ozbiliz’s free-kick past De Gea from six yards on 86 minutes, Ajax were one goal from the last 16.
United held out, but they will have to raise their game to make it much further.
