History repeated itself when Newcastle fought out a goalless draw in the first leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final just as they did 35 years ago when lifting their last European silverware.
On that occasion Bobby Moncur's side drew 0-0 at Ibrox against Rangers before seeing off the Scots 2-0 at St James' Park.
Crucially, United prevented Marseille from scoring and that could prove vital in the second leg in the South of France, a fact not missed by skipper Alan Shearer who sounded the United battle cry.
"Our main aim was not to concede and we achieved that," he said. "This game is still alive and we're still in it and as everyone knows we can score goals.
"It was a very good performance from us as we were down to the bare bones. It was a very even game as we thought it would be and it was a very mature European performance from us." Both sides had their chances with the outstretched leg of Fabien Barthez denying the hard-working Shola Ameobi after 14 minutes - the on-loan Manchester United keeper going the wrong way as he pulled off an excellent stop.
The much talked about Didier Drogba did not disappoint for Marseille, as he was watched by a posse of managers from the stands.
Indeed the highlight of the match was the classic encounter between Jonathan Woodgate and Drogba. Both were magnificent and at the top of their games and were quite rightly the outstanding players for their respective sides.
Drogba almost won it after 65 minutes when only the woodwork denied him his tenth European goal of the season.
Twice in a matter of seconds Laurent Robert was caught in possession and when the ball was played in from the right Drogba struck a stunning left-foot volley that crashed against Shay Given's near post with the keeper only able to watch on.
Drogba was a menace all night while at the other end a thunderbolt Shearer free-kick was blocked by Barthez and Gary Speed put the rebound wide early in the second half.
Michael Bridges - on for Ameobi - came within a whisker of winning it four minutes from the end only for his left-foot cross-shot to fly across the face of the goal as he searched for his first senior goal since May 2000.
Unusually for United this was their third goalless draw in their last four matches, but as far as the UEFA Cup is concerned it is still very much game on.