Bayern fought out a goalless draw with the Portuguese side last month and Hitzfeld said: ‘‘Boavista in Oporto are a very hard team.’’

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has heard similar reports about Boavista, who enjoyed two draws against Liverpool in the first phase.

‘‘I’ve heard their home games can be quite aggressive, but we’ll see,’’ he said.

United hold the advantage over Bayern - who entertain Nantes - going into the final group games.

Their 1-1 draw in Munich back in November means Bayern must achieve a better result than United if the European Cup holders are going to finish top of the group.

For now, though, Ferguson was happy to have set a new Champions League record by qualifying for the quarter-finals for a record sixth successive season.

No other side has matched United’s consistency in Europe’s premier competition, although Ferguson readily admits their record in the knock-out stages could be better.

‘‘We’re very pleased with that, but we think we should have done better in some of the years,’’ he said.

‘‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that and hopefully this year we can do better.

‘‘They may have increased the number of teams getting into the competition, but it’s still very, very hard to qualify.’’

United’s seventh meeting with Bayern failed to live up to expectations and save for a bright 20-minute period after half-time it was a dull affair at Old Trafford.

Ryan Giggs, restored to the left wing as United opted to play 4-4-2, did his best to liven up proceedings almost single-handed.

He was at the heart of everything good for United and he forced a great save from Oliver Kahn in the Reds’ best moment.

Bayern had their chances too in the second half and Fabien Barthez made good stops to deny Claudio Pizarro, Jens Jeremies and Stefan Effenberg.

As the match entered its final quarter, though, both sides were content to settle for a draw, like they had done at Old Trafford in December 1998, because they knew a point would be enough to see them progress to the last eight.

Hitzfeld made no apology for this, although he admitted he would adopt a different approach if the two teams were to meet again in the final at Hampden Park on May 15.

‘‘Both teams showed a lot of respect for each other in the first half and there were few chances because of that respect,’’ he said.

‘‘In this game a point was all that was needed, but in the final there has to be a winner so that game would be approached differently.’’