Manchester United 1 Bayern Munich 1

For a short while, an eccentric season for Manchester United, featuring seven home defeats and more ignominy than David Moyes will want to remember, was looking good for a throwback result to shift the entire mood of the club. They had given everything, against superior opponents, and for nine minutes they led and Old Trafford, once again, felt a happy place.

David Moyes and his players will just regret they could not do a better job of protecting the lead before Bayern Munich finally bared their teeth. Instead, Bastian Schweinsteiger’s equaliser leaves the European champions in a position of strength going into the return leg next week. Yet not, possibly, the clear position many people might have anticipated bearing in mind the ordeals United have already suffered on this ground.

The ruthless winning machine certainly did not get everything their own way and Schweinsteiger will be banned from the rematch after his late challenge on Wayne Rooney brought him his second yellow card of the night.

Moyes might even be emboldened to think it could have been a more profitable occasion considering the chance that Danny Welbeck passed up in the first half and at least Nemanja Vidic’s goal means United will head to Bavaria in a reasonable frame of mind, albeit facing another considerable challenge.

Bayern, to put it into context, arrived in Manchester on the back of a 60-game run in which they had never failed to score. They had won their past 17 games outside Munich and managed at least two goals in 24 of the past 25 games. Another Bundesliga title had been safely wrapped up and, for United, the unfortunate truth is that this was always going to be a night when they had to chase and harry and, for long spells, just try to hang in there.

A club with their attacking traditions might not like it this way. Yet the superiority of their opponents on the ball made it inevitable. Bayern attacked from every angle. Arjen Robben teased and tormented Alexander Buttner.

On the opposite side, Franck Ribery was quick, elusive and relentless. Welbeck’s energy troubled Bayern but, for the most part, Pep Guardiola’s team simply kept the ball, looking for spaces to exploit, pinning their opponents back in their own half.

United did not have the same refinement. They did, however, play with structure and organisation. They set about frustrating their opponents, defending on the edge of their own penalty area, and the ploys of conservatism made it hard going for their opponents sometimes.

In the first half, Robben came inside on a couple of occasions to take aim at David de Gea’s goal. One shot curled just around the post, and another was turned wide by the goalkeeper. Yet the paradox was that United, operating almost exclusively on the counterattack, had the outstanding chance of the opening 45 minutes.

Welbeck’s coltish bursts of acceleration gave him the beating of Jerome Boateng on more than one occasion and, five minutes before half-time, he was suddenly running clear on goal. What followed might ultimately be a source of intense regret for the Premier League’s seventh-placed team.

Welbeck never looked fully confident and Manuel Neuer is too accomplished a goalkeeper to try to deceive him with a little dinked shot. This was not an occasion to be cute and Neuer read Welbeck’s intentions to make the save.

The rollicking that Rooney subsequently meted out to his team-mate was sustained. Yet Welbeck was playing well and United could also reflect on that moment, only three minutes in, when he did beat Neuer only for his volley to be struck off. Carlos Carballo, the Spanish referee, had decided Welbeck’s foot was too high as he controlled the ball on the edge of the penalty area. The counter-argument was that Javi Martinez had ducked his head into the player’s foot, though it should also be noted that Bayern’s defender had played to the whistle in the split-second before Welbeck let fly.

Moyes’s team certainly attacked with speed and vigour but they also had to spend long periods just trying to get the ball. Bayern’s strength is always their midfield - the wonderful blend of control and power that Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos and Philipp Lahm provide - and the decision to remove Ryan Giggs at half-time was fully justified. Giggs had been majestic in the last round against Olympiakos. Now, he looked what he was: a 40-year-old in the company of younger men.

In defence, however, Vidic and Rio Ferdinand were doing a good job of disguising their advancing years. Then, in the 58th minute, there was the moment when United’s crowd dared to dream.

Rooney swung over the cross from the left and Lahm had let Vidic go. Why Bayern’s smallest player was assigned to Vidic was a mystery in the first place. Vidic leant back, twisted his neck and the ball found the bottom corner of Neuer’s net.

Guardiola responded by bringing on Mario Mandzukic for Thomas Muller. Bayern had been missing a spearhead and he was instrumental in the equaliser, heading down Rafinha’s right-wing delivery into Schweinsteiger’s path.

It was an elegant swish of his left boot that sent the ball into the roof of the net and changed the complexion of the tie. Schweinsteiger’s night ended sourly, with him accusing Rooney of diving, but Bayern still emerged in a position of command.