BETTER that Manchester United get an Italian lesson now, when it matters little, than at the tasty stages of the Champions League.

Deriving any kind of significance from pre-season friendlies is always dangerous, even when the schedule throws up a competitive clash between the English and Italian champions in front of an Old Trafford crowd of 73,738, a record for a pre-season friendly.

But if Sir Alex Ferguson was a worrier or the begging type, he might have been preparing himself for some serious grovelling when Gabriel Heinze returns to Manchester on Monday morning.

The one area of his squad which remained untouched in the summer spending spree was the defence - and it duly collapsed like a Tewkesbury flood barrier in a sobering first half for the Reds.

The purchase of Owen Hargreaves - forced to watch from the stand due to a sore knee - should go some way to soothing any flutters Ferguson might have, as his main brief will be to shore up any defensive frailties.

Culprit

Main culprit on the night was Patrice Evra, whose adventure down the left is very much in the spirit of United, but has to be tempered with some realism and judgment.

Ferguson will be praying he simply got caught up in the fun of the night, when the fans came to see some good football rather than a victory. If not, persuading Heinze to stay may yet be the biggest task facing the manager in a summer of strengthening.

And yet it all began promisingly enough for United, with Wayne Rooney firing them ahead after just 17 minutes.

Evra can take much of the credit, haring ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, taking his pass and driving in a low cross to Rooney, who had time to measure his shot before driving it in to the far corner.

The lead lasted just four minutes as Inter, who were perhaps a step ahead in their preparations, moved up a gear.

They looked mentally sharper, tactically more astute and technically superior, especially whenever Luis Figo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were involved.

Old Real Madrid master Figo created the equaliser with a devil of a ball into the box which had Evra caught in two minds. He fluffed his clearance, Rio Ferdinand panicked and missed his attempt, and David Suazo swivelled to score.

On 27 minutes, Evra was sloppy again, losing possession in his own half to Dejan Stankovic, who quickly sent Figo racing away. The Portuguese ace gave it back to Stankovic and his cross was slotted home by Ibrahimovic.

Stunned

The crowd was further stunned on 34 minutes as Inter stormed forward again, and United's defence crumbled once more. Ibrahimovic again led the charge, Figo took the pass and helped it to Suazo who calmly knocked in his second goal.

Inter appeared to be giving United a chance at half time by replacing Ibrahimovic with Adriano. The Brazilian's first real involvement came on 57 minutes when he rose to pick out the perfect header into the far corner, of his own net.

Ferguson made a statement by including Chris Eagles in his starting line-up. The implication is that the 21-year-old midfielder, who earned his spurs on loan last season, will begin the Community Shield side against Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday.

But the Reds boss was in no mood for excuses. He said: "Our defending in the first half was very poor, and we will not win games no matter who they are against, if we defend like that. In the second half, in fairness we stepped up the game, pressed them better, kept shape better and made it a really good game.

"We got what we needed from the game, keeping the eleven players on for 90 minutes. There could be a change or two for Sunday's game, but at least those 11 have got 90 minutes under their belts."

UNITED: van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Eagles, O'Shea, Giggs, Ronaldo, Rooney.

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