SOCCER / Manchester United 1 FC Porto 1: Manchester United, a club besotted with its flamboyant heritage, could not produce an evening's worth of flawless security.

They fell short by seconds and so tumbled out of the Champions League on aggregate. Alex Ferguson's team were ahead on aggregate as this match entered its last minute.

Then, Phil Neville fouled the substitute Edgaras Jankauskas close to the penalty area. The goalkeeper, Tim Howard, reached Benni McCarthy's free-kick, but simply pawed the ball down into the danger area, where Costinha bundled home the goal that put Porto into the last eight.

United had lived in dread of their fragility.

"I am sure we will score goals," Ferguson had said. "Porto are a good team, but I don't think they are great travellers."

The manager was so confident of United's attacking prowess that he virtually let that aspect take care of itself in a team selection that suggested he had spent much more time contemplating his defence.

That has been an ugly topic of late and, with Mikael Silvestre unable to recover from his ankle injury in time to take part, the back four was not particularly easy on the eye.

Ferguson therefore had both Nicky Butt and Eric Djemba- Djemba to try to check Porto early in their build-up, even if that meant Cristiano Ronaldo had to be among the substitutes while the more orthodox Darren Fletcher kept his place.

For all the wrangling about the red card in Oporto that ruled Roy Keane out of this match - UEFA's bizarre decision to appeal against their own one-match punishment for Keane is no longer a major concern of course - Ferguson knows that Porto's real creativity does not lie in simulating injury.

Ferguson's plan made a degree of sense during an opening phase in which the visitors were curbed, but there was no immediate clue as to where the Old Trafford side's invention might lie. Until Paul Scholes put them ahead with a well-worked move in the 32nd minute, there was a pseudo-excitement to the incidents.

Ryan Giggs, for example, tapped a free-kick for Scholes to let fly, but the angle was too acute to justify a shot. The crowd had to work itself into a frenzy then, renewing some of grievances from the first leg. Obsessed with simulation, the offence of the moment, they reacted to bookings as if they were goals.

Gradually, the action itself did attract attention and there was to be flawless execution from United in the 32nd minute.

A one-two with Giggs launched John O'Shea into a run on the left and the Waterfordman wrenched the ball back onto his right foot to hit the inswinging cross that Scholes headed in strongly at the near post.

And it was only the luck of bad officiating that protected Porto from going 2-0 down just before the interval. Scholes turned in a mishit shot by O'Shea, but the linesman deemed the midfielder to be offside.

After the game, Ferguson was quick to bemoan the disallowed goal. "That proved vital - the linesman didn't do his job, but it's one of those things."

United had to consider other means of broadening a slender advantage that lay merely in the workings of the away-goals rule.

Even if a rib injury had not affected Djemba-Djemba, Ferguson might still have brought on Louis Saha as a partner for Van Nistelrooy in the second half.

Ferguson tried to stem the flow of Porto attacks by introducing Cristiano Ronaldo, but it proved to be the briefest of appearances as he was almost instantly caught by Nuno Valente. Ronaldo was carted off to the dressing-room on a stretcher and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on in his place.

The battle continued and, as the game ticked into its final minute, it seemed as though United would make it. It only made the killer blow that much harder for United fans to take.

"I thought we did so well. They only had one chance in the first half - but that's football," Ferguson said. "We looked very solid, but now we have to accept it and bounce back."

Guardian Service

MANCHESTER UNITED: Howard, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Brown, O'Shea, Fletcher (Ronaldo 74), Djemba-Djemba (Saha 45), Butt, Giggs, Scholes, van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo (Solskjaer 83). Subs Not Used: Carroll, Bellion, Kleberson, Forlan. Booked: Phil Neville, Scholes. Goals: Scholes 32.

FC Porto: Vitor Baia, Paulo Ferreira, Jorge Costa (Pedro Emanuel 36), Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Valente, Alenitchev (Ricardo Fernandes 80), Costinha, Maniche, Deco, Carlos Alberto (Jankauskas 61), McCarthy. Subs Not Used: Nuno, Ricardo Costa, Bosingwa, Bruno Moraes. Booked: Costinha, Maniche, McCarthy. Goals: Costinha 90.

Referee: V Ivanov (Russia).