It was the mother and father and even the uncle of an anti-climax.

After all the airtime and newsprint devoted to him in the build-up, David Beckham barely features in the reviews today, his waning star well and truly eclipsed at the San Siro last night by Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho and the man who replaced him with 20 minutes left, the 109-year-old Clarence Seedorf.

Yes, a Becks free-kick set up the opening goal but to call it an assist is to stretch that definition to include Patrice Evra, Ronaldinho and Michael Carrick before a ping-ponging ball finally found its way to the back of  the net.

And that was about it from Becks for the remainder. He was neat and tidy here, a bit sloppy there but generally pedestrian throughout. Not that Beckham was ever perpetual motion even in his prime, of course. His greatest strength was always his ability to bend in a devastating cross without having to go past his marker, the same right-footed voodoo which also made him such a threat from free-kicks. There were occasional glimpses of the right stuff last night but not enough to change the course of the game or put his name back up in lights.

Milan coach Leonardo might have thought that coming up against his old team would inspire a return to old ways for Beckham – and he may yet think that a return to Old Trafford will have the desired effect – but Clarence Seedorf’s impact as substitute in the San Siro should make him think again.

Seedorf’s clever finish from Ronaldinho’s sharp pass was a quality highlight on a night when loose defending by both sides contributed to a glut of goals and poor finishing on the part of Milan left them desperately playing catch-up in the second leg.

Inevitably, Wayne Rooney stole the show. Ironically, this was far from being one of his better performances of the season overall but, when the Milanese defence twice afforded him unchallenged airspace, a player in his goal-scoring form wasn’t about to pass up either offer.

But the pick of the individual performances belonged to Ronaldinho, confirming his rejuvenation as something close to the grinning samba superstar who used to wow the world. Disappointingly, we won’t see him when Ireland play Brazil in London next month and, unless coach Dunga has a major change of heart, we won’t be seeing him in South Africa.

England boss Fabio Capello was in the San Siro last night, but there was really nothing from David Beckham to suggest that we’ll be seeing a whole lot of him at the World Cup either.

No matter, it’s time to start felling trees and shredding the airwaves as we kick-start the big build-up to the golden boy’s return to Manchester. Ho hum.