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Your support makes all the difference.The more powerful the man, the more he likes to gamble. Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to rest half his first-choice players against Panathinaikos was not on the same level of risk-taking as suing Manchester United's biggest shareholder over a horse, and it was fully justified.
Diego Forlan's powerfully struck shot past Antonis Nikopolidis five minutes from time - his fifth goal in six starts - took United into the next stage of the Champions' League without stretching their resources. Ferguson's gaze may have been fixed on the pitch in this small, intense stadium which had the feel of a big Second Division ground, but his mind was on Stamford Bridge.
Manchester United's praetorian guard was rested to prepare for Sunday's encounter with Chelsea. Roy Keane did not even travel to Greece while Ruud van Nistelrooy and the Neville brothers never left the bench, reducing the Champions' League to the level of a League Cup fixture. But even had United lost, Rangers' defeat in the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion would have sent them through anyway and the question of whether they finish first or second in Group E will be decided at Old Trafford against Stuttgart on 9 December.
Sometimes, as against PSV Eindhoven three years ago, Manchester United's fielding of weakened sides can backfire badly, and although Panathinaikos began the evening bottom of Group E they are not a team to take chances against in Athens.
The Greek side's 3-1 defeat by Stuttgart, a game in which they scored the opening goal, had been their first at home in the Champions' League in 10 matches. However, as things transpired, they showed little passion and less imagination in a contest which contained all the weariness of a matinée from a show at the fag end of its run.
Of United's big midfield guns, only Ryan Giggs remained. In the opening, dreadfully forgettable first half, the Welshman was a rare threat, cutting in from the left and driving home a low cross which, had the inrushing Darren Fletcher met the ball at a different angle, must have produced a desperately needed goal.
Frankly, there was not much else to quicken the heart-beat before the interval. Throughout, the low cross, whether struck by Giggs or Cristiano Ronaldo, seemed the likeliest manner in which United might break through.
Panathinaikos began even more bereft of ideas and belief. Their only attempt at goal in the first half of a match they had to win to have a real chance of making the Uefa Cup, was an amateurishly struck long-range effort from Michalis Kontantinou that threatened the corner flag rather more than Tim Howard's net.
The United goalkeeper was not required to make anything as active as a save until the 58th minute when Joel Epalle, brought on by Itzhak Shum to inject some life into proceedings, found a sight of goal. Again, Giggs, wearing the captain's armband in place of Keane, whose drive was sorely missed, might have opened the scoring as a cross from Ronaldo found him unmarked in front of goal six yards out. The shot was side-footed badly wide.
Before kick-off, Ferguson had warned his team about "a Stuttgart situation" when concentration and focus was lost along with the game. His words had little impact and a better team than Panathinaikos might have exploited it. One awful lapse from Rio Ferdinand in his own area almost gave Dimitris Papadopoulos a clear shot at goal. Moments later, the man who has yet to give full value for the £30m Ferguson paid for him, injured himself with an abysmally timed tackle on Angelos Basinas.
This was not much of a way to qualify for the knockout phase of the Champions' League - and in the same week as Arsenal's glorious surge at San Siro. In contrast with the group stages of the Champions' League, Manchester United have seldom shone in knockout matches since winning the European Cup in 1999 - their record is one victory in three seasons. They will probably have to show more imagination than they did in Athens to find a second.
Panathinaikos (4-4-2): Nikopolidis; Seitaridis, Henriksen, Goumas, Münch; Sanmartean (Epalle, h-t), Basinas, Zutautas, Maric; Konstantinou (Vlaovic, 75), Papadopoulos (Sapanis, 83). Substitutes not used: Warzycha, Konstantinidis, Michaelsen, Kotsolis (gk).
Manchester United (4-4-1-1): Howard; O'Shea, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Fortune; Fletcher (Bellion, 75), Butt, Kleberson, Ronaldo; Giggs; Forlan. Substitutes not used: G.Neville, P.Neville, Van Nistelrooy, Pugh, Tierney, Carroll (gk).
Referee: J Wegereef (Netherlands).
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