Bayer Leverkusen 1 Manchester Utd 1
(Agg 3-3: Bayer win on away goals rule)
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| Oliver Neuville celebrates scoring Leverkusen’s equaliser on the stroke of half-time (© Reuters) |
Alex Ferguson's dream of lifting the European Cup at Hampden Park is over after Manchester United were beaten by Bayer Leverkusen on the away goals rule tonight.
Roy Keane had put United on course for Glasgow when he opened the scoring on 28 minutes in the BayArena.
But Oliver Neuville equalised in first-half stoppage time, and Leverkusen progressed to the final courtesy of their 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in the semi-final first leg.
It was a crushing end to United's Champions League campaign, and they deserved better than this after the way they had played this season. But instead Ferguson's misery against German sides continues, and he has managed to win just one of his 11 matches against Bundesliga opposition.
For the second time this season, Ferguson deployed Juan Veron in the hole behind Ruud van Nistelrooy now that chief stoker Roy Keane was restored to the Reds' engine room.
Ronny Johnsen returned from his hamstring injury to partner Laurent Blanc at centre-half, with Wes Brown moving across to right back.
Leverkusen, conquerors of Liverpool in the quarter-finals, made just the one change from last week, with Neuville replacing Dimitar Berbatov.
The Bundesliga side were dealt an early blow when captain Jens Nowotny went off with damaged cruciate ligaments following a challenge with van Nistelrooy to be replaced by Zoltan Sebescen.
Leverkusen's bad luck continued on 13 minutes when Diego Placente teed up Bernd Schneider, and his right-foot curling effort came off Fabien Barthez's left-hand post with the Frenchman beaten.
United weathered this anxious opening and came close to taking the lead when Placente cleared Johnsen's header from Ryan Giggs' corner off the line. The semi-final second leg was beginning to open up, and Schneider dragged a shot wide before Neuville fired over from a difficult opening on the run.
Ferguson had hailed Keane as United's most influential player ever before the game, and on 28 minutes the hero of Turin lived up to his top billing when he scored for the Reds.
It was a lovely passing move, which sliced Leverkusen open. Veron found Keane, who laid the ball off to van Nistelrooy, and in turn the Dutchman played in the United captain to round Leverkusen goalkeeper Jorg Butt and score from the narrow angle on the left.
It was only his fourth goal of the season and appeared at the time to be easily his most precious. United were ahead on the night and in the tie overall, and Leverkusen now had to score to halt the Reds' march on Hampden Park.
Buoyed by Keane's goal, United pushed for a killer second, and Veron's goalbound drive was deflected off Yildiray Basturk and over the bar before Butt reached back to pluck a Johnsen header out of the air before it could cross the line.
But then in the second minute of first-half stoppage time the tie turned Leverkusen's way when Neuville collected Michael Ballack's ball and fired home an equaliser off the underside of the bar from the edge of the D.
Now it was Leverkusen were who in the ascendancy, and Barthez denied Neuville a second after the interval when dived to his right to keep out his 20-yard drive. Blanc then made a timely intervention when he headed Neuville's cross away from the unmarked Placente, who was waiting to strike six yards out.
United made a double substitution on the hour mark in an attempt to find the goal that would take them to Hampden. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on for Butt, while Denis Irwin replaced the injured Johnsen, and Brown moved across to centre-half.
The goal would not come, and with time running out United brought on Diego Forlan for Brown as they went for broke.
In the dying minutes Forlan thought he had done it only for Placente to head his shot off the line and then Solskjaer blazed over.
Leverkusen will play either Real Madrid or Barcelona, who clash at the Bernabeu tomorrow night with the home side leading 2-0.
Bayer Leverkusen:1-Hans-Joerg Butt; 6-Boris Zivkovic, 19-Lucio, 5-Jens Nowotny (26-Zoltan Sebescen 10), 35-Diego Placente; 25-Bernd Schneider, 28-Carsten Ramelow, 13-Michael Ballack, 10-Yildiray Basturk (15-Jurica Vranjes 79), 8-Ze Roberto; 27-Oliver Neuville (12-Dimitar Berbatov 85)
Manchester United:1-Fabien Barthez; 24-Wes Brown (21-Diego Forlan 81), 5-Ronny Johnsen (3-Denis Irwin 60), 6-Laurent Blanc, 27-Mikael Silvestre; 4-Juan Sebastian Veron, 16-Roy Keane, 8-Nicky Butt (20-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 61), 18-Paul Scholes; 11-Ryan Giggs, 10-Ruud van Nistelrooy
Referee:K Nielsen (Denmark)