Wednesday night saw Manchester United frustrated by the Nantes goalkeeper Mickael Landreau but it was Ruud van Nistelrooy's calm penalty-taking that won the plaudits from the Red Devils boss.
Although Sir Alex Ferguson praised the heroics of the French stopper - touted as Barthez's eventual successor in the national team - he was quick to point out that he was happy with the efforts of his team later in the match, especially van Nistelrooy, who notched his seventh goal in eight Champions League games.
However, he was not happy that the Old Trafford side had needed to battle for a draw against the French champions who have endured a very difficult season so far.
"We created a lot of chances, but their goalkeeper - he was fantastic," said Ferguson.
"I am pleased to get the point because it looked as if we weren't going to get one.
"The goalkeeper had one of those nights. And when you get that kind of performance, you have to accept that it is just not going to be."
The United boss was not pleased with the way his team allowed Nantes to take the lead, forcing them into a salvage operation to claw their way back into the match.
"We gave the ball away in their half to begin with, which was a big error," he said.
"It was a bad goal for us to lose in the sense of timing, because it is an uphill fight away from home."
Ferguson preferred not to talk about the reported spitting incident involving Ruud van Nistelrooy. He was simply too impressed by the Dutchman's cool approach to one of the most important penalties of United's season.
The £19million striker had to be on target when he was given a chance to level the match with a 94th-minute penalty kick that Ferguson was delighted to see hit the net.
He said: "It's the temperament factor with Ruud. The keeper made a string of fantastic saves. Ruud also hit the post and missed a couple of chances and he might have scored six or seven on another night.
"It was one hell of a penalty and no keeper in the world would have saved that.
"No matter how well their goalkeeper was playing, there was no way he could have stopped that penalty."
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