There is something clever to the way Manchester United have approached this week.
They are back in the Champions League after 644 days, but to no great fanfare. No rabble rousing and certainly no predictions of how far they might expect to go in this competition.
It started with Ander Herrera on Saturday night, in the howling wind outside the exit of the Bet365 Stadium. Qualification is a 'basic' for United, he said, before reasoning that 'we cannot forget we came from the Europa League'.
Perhaps it is because Basle are first up.