FC Basel...1 Manchester United...3In the end, this was Ruud van Nistelrooy's night. The Dutchman rescued Manchester United here in Switzerland just as it had seemed they would begin the Champions League's second phase with the elegance of a hiker with a stone in his boot.
Alex Ferguson's team found themselves behind after only 31 seconds, conceding the fifth-fastest goal in the competition's history, and were fortunate that any damage was only superficial before they mounted a rousing comeback with three goals in the space of eight second-half minutes.
Van Nistelrooy claimed two of them, the second undoubtedly being one of the finest of his career, and provided the other for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to mask the earlier deficiencies of his colleagues.
Basel, the Champions League's surprise package, are developing a reputation as a bright, indefatigable side with the small-town mentality of craving success against loftier opposition. As well as exposing Liverpool a fortnight ago, they boasted the proud record of having scored in every single game this season.
What Ferguson could not have expected was that the Swiss side would extend that sequence to 31 matches with such audacious alacrity, scoring before most of the United players had even muddied their knees.
Quinton Fortune's first touch of the night was to scoop Julio Rossi's header off the goal-line after a badly defended corner, but before there was even time for Fabien Barthez to offer him a pat on the back Scott Chipperfield had lashed the loose ball diagonally across goal for Christian Gimenez to score from inside the six-yard area.
For much of the first hour the unfamiliar central defensive pairing of Wes Brown and John O'Shea appeared all at sea.
Something had to be done and an empurpled Ferguson duly acted, just after the half hour, by gesticulating on the touchline for O'Shea to switch to left-back, with Mickael Silvestre taking up the central role he favours and in which he regularly appears for the French national team.
What Ferguson really needed was a sense of leadership, something that was conspicuous only by its absence. Brown, the wrong player in the right place, had a good chance to equalise through a congested penalty area after Ryan Giggs's free-kick had been knocked back at the far post by van Nistelrooy.
Basel, however, could reflect on the more glaring missed opportunities, notably when Ivan Ergic dissected Brown and Silvestre only to scuff his shot. Barthez was also required to tip over a venomous free-kick from Murat Yakin.
Memories of Basel's defensive capitulation against Liverpool spurred on Ferguson's men, but they began the second half as sluggishly as they had the first.
How Basel will rue the opportunities they squandered. On the hour, totally against the run of play, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer delivered a deliciously inviting cross from the right and van Nistelrooy, hardly able to miss, dispatched a firm header beyond Pascal Zuberbuhler from eight yards.
The blood seemed to drain from the faces of the Basel players. Van Nistelrooy's second was a moment of individual brilliance, wriggling past two challenges along the byline before whipping a shot in off the far post from what seemed to be an impossible angle.
Then, just to prove that finishing is not his sole skill, the Dutchman sent Solskjaer scampering clear to finish emphatically from just inside the penalty area.
BASLE: Zuberbuhler, Zwyssig, Hakan Yakin, Gimenez, Murat Yakin, Cantaluppi, Haas, Ergic (Barberis 84), Atouba, Chipperfield (Tum 73), Juilio Rossi (Duruz 84). Subs Not Used: Rapo, Quennoz, Huggel, Varela. Booked: Zwyssig, Atouba. Goals: Gimenez 1.
MAN UTD: Barthez, O'Shea, Silvestre, Brown (May 90), Phil Neville, Fortune, Scholes, Veron, Giggs, van Nistelrooy (Forlan 73), Solskjaer (Chadwick 90). Subs Not Used: Ricardo, Stewart, Pugh, Richardson. Booked: Scholes, Fortune, Veron. Goals: van Nistelrooy 62, 63, Solskjaer 68.
Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia).
