Daniel Farke wasn't having it that Leeds United were the favourites for this game but there was nothing he could do about the level of expectation around his club going into it.
Last season Leeds drew this fixture 1-1 and then in April claimed their first league win at Old Trafford since 1981. Being truly competitive in the Premier League in both the post-promotion campaign and so far this term allowed supporters not only to dream of Elland Road glory on Sunday afternoon but perhaps even to expect it. Throw in the narrative surrounding the visitors given all that has transpired there of late and at the very least it felt like a big chance.
Yet if reality was to meet expectation, the first half did not make it immediately obvious. A frenetic first few minutes was as anticipated. Ethan Ampadu, leading the team out for the 100th time as captain, was at the heart of an aggressive start. He set the tone by levelling Carlos Baleba to concede one free-kick, then caught Bryan Mbeumo on the ankle to concede another, somehow without seeing yellow.
Neither Bruno Fernandes nor Gabriel Gudmundsson got away with their early transgressions, however. So it was tetchy and fractious, but the play that was punctuated by fouls was largely in the home side's favour. Leeds saw plenty of the ball, some of it in the opposition territory, and though there were dangerous-looking deliveries into the box, only Nico Elvedi's header - saved by Senne Lammens - threatened to open the scoring.
At the other end Mbeumo arrived completely unmarked to head Youri Tielemans' scooped cross past James Trafford's left-hand post. It was a let-off as much as a warning but there was very little between the teams in a first half full of huffing and puffing and largely devoid of magic.
Leeds had put together a couple of nice passing moves and got Jayden Bogle into good positions high up the pitch, without ever really unlocking the visitors. And then almost out of nothing, Leeds conceded. The ball was pushed down the right, Tarik Muharemović was unable to stop Tielemans from crossing and Mbeumo, who stayed just ahead of James Justin, wasn't going to miss at the second time of asking. Whether it was a slight lack of anticipation or a tinge of hesitancy, the hosts were caught on their heels by every step of that move and punished.
The same ruthless efficiency simply wasn't found in Leeds' play during the first 45 minutes. After the goal the Whites continued to enjoy possession, yet found a deep-lying opponent difficult to break down, lacked a real protagonist and went in at the break a goal down.
Leeds came out for the second half, upped the tempo and the aggression, refused to give the visitors a sniff of the ball and duly levelled within six minutes. Getting Ao Tanaka on the ball on the left kept things moving forward. He found Noah Okafor, who cut inside to switch the play and Bogle won a corner. Anton Stach swung it in, Muharemović nodded down and Dominic Calvert-Lewin controlled then swivelled his hips to slam the ball into the net. So many played a part in how the goal came about that the protagonist could only be identified as Leeds United.
In the minutes after the goal it was one-way traffic. The pre-game feeling that one of the league's most physical and willing-to-run teams would cause problems for one recently criticised for a lack of running was proving astute. Elland Road, which had been flat for the previous meeting of these clubs, was rocking. The ruthless efficiency still wasn't quite there, though - Tanaka and Okafor both found the Kop with shots after half-cleared deliveries.
When the momentum briefly stalled, long enough for Fernandes to push a shot just past the far post, Tanaka smashed Amad Diallo and a long ball put Okafor in a position to play Calvert-Lewin, only for the winger to show too much of the ball to Harry Maguire.
Even without cutting the visitors apart or ever really properly clicking offensively, Leeds came closest to winning it with chances that came from forcing play forward and sniffing for seconds. The ball dropped to Stach on the edge and he couldn't get his head over the ball, skying an effort high over the bar. In stoppage time Stach was there again when Lammens punched an Ampadu cross as far as the German. This time, with the three points on his boot, he kept it down and beat the keeper, only for the ball to ricochet off a defender and into Lammens' gloves.
The visitors did have moments of their own in the second half, efforts from distance or crosses into the box, but failed to trouble James Trafford. They were pushing forward in the final seconds of the four added-on minutes, with play having been stretched the closer it got to the end. And at full-time with the score still locked at 1-1 the two teams resembled boxers who had punched themselves out, without ever landing the big shot. Players in both white and red sank to their haunches or simply stopped dead in their tracks. Both sides looked more hurt than satisfied.
Superior Expected Goals, more shots on target, more touches in the opposition box and 61.3 per cent of the possession suggested Leeds shaded it. Off the ball, the hosts did what they do - running, working, tackling and heading. Getting the ball, moving it forward and making it stick up top were not issues either. The final bit, making decisions and executing to turn possession and territory into goals, is often described as the hardest bit. That was where Farke saw room for improvement.
After Michael Carrick had likened the performance and result to a 'fresh start' for his team, Farke admitted disappointment. "I think we were the better side, the dominant side," said the boss. "The lack of quality in finishing and crossing was the only thing I could criticise. With a bit more quality in the final third I think we could have won it."
As Ampadu led his team-mates around the ground at full-time Elland Road felt a little flat. Expectation played its part in the disappointment felt, but the reality is that no one wants to share anything with their most bitter rivals, least of all the points.
