La Gazzetta Dello Sport celebrates Manchester United's 0-0 draw with Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Wednesday as a victory for "catenaccio", an old Italian defensive system that translates loosely as "door-bolt." If indeed a "door-bolt" defense was their intention, the paper says Sir Alex Ferguson's men executed the plan flawlessly.

With 10 men always behind the ball, you could see Wayne Rooney defending as far back as the corner flag, and Carlos Tevez battling in center midfield. Ronaldo, meanwhile, was mostly all alone up front. "It looked less like Manchester United than like the first Liverpool side sent out by Benitez, that team which reached Istanbul in 2005 where they defeated Milan," La Gazzetta said.

The paper was also quick to point out that the European press had been lenient on United for adopting what are often considered negative tactics. "Would they have used the same measured tones to describe a similar performance from an Italian side? Or would they have talked about 'extreme defensiveness?'" the paper asks.

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