Manchester Utd 3 Benfica FC 1:For 18 nerve-shredding minutes Manchester United's supporters were subjected to the sort of harrowing thoughts that, quite frankly, they can never have thought imaginable when Alex Ferguson's team won their first three Champions League ties of the season.
Losing to a beautiful goal, in danger of making a complete pig's ear of qualification, it is a measure of their durability that they will be among the teams in the draw for the knockout stages.
The Premiership leaders will qualify as the winners of Group F courtesy of a comeback incorporating three headed goals, with an equaliser to cement Nemanja Vidic's rapidly growing popularity and the perseverance that is needed to make good teams great.
Ferguson was emboldened enough to say that United could win the competition but they were precariously close to going out and the overwhelming emotion here last night was one of relief.
Playing Champions League football after Christmas is something United supporters think they are buying into when they renew their season tickets.
It is the very minimum of this club's aspirations, the least that Ferguson expects.
Last season was the first time in a decade they had failed to make it and within 24 hours one of the fans' websites had compiled a list entitled Ten Reasons Why Fergie Must Go - complete with a mocked-up P45 bearing Malcolm Glazer's signature.
Back then, United were in the midst of turmoil domestically. This time they went into the final round of group games as the Premiership's top team and with the volume turned down by Ferguson's critics.
Their football has been refined all season but there were bound to be nerves and it was probably only to be expected that their performance was inhibited at times.
United began the game in confident fashion, working their elaborate passing patterns, stretching Benfica along both flanks and, at times, playing with a formation that resembled 3-3-4, with Gary Neville an auxiliary right-winger.
Yet Benfica were obdurate opponents and their build-up play was measured and controlled and, just before the half-hour, they broke forward to score a goal of stunning audacity.
Simao, predictably, had been at the hub of their most inventive moves and it was his scampering run on the right that set it up. Yet when he cut the ball back, Marcos Nelson was still 30 yards from goal, at an angle that not even the most ambitious striker might have considered suitable for shooting.
Undeterred, the Benfica right-back simply looked up, then walloped his shot which somehow swerved, dipped and soared. The ball speared past Edwin van der Sar into the top right-hand corner and suddenly it was the small but boisterous contingent of Portuguese supporters who could be heard.
In that moment, Old Trafford was engulfed by a feeling to which it is wholly unaccustomed: a sense of dread, and the queasy realisation that after winning their opening three ties they were staring at an exit so ludicrous it would have felt almost untrue.
The response, however, was dynamic.
The remainder of the first half was a story of unremitting pressure and, in stoppage-time, Vidic timed his run perfectly to glance Ryan Giggs's free-kick beyond Quim, the Benfica goalkeeper. Rarely has Old Trafford celebrated with such a combination of relief and joy.
The match had been turned upside down and United came out after the interval shimmering with menace. Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick were getting more time on the ball, with wide players either side to accept their passes.
It is an oddity that Wayne Rooney does not always shine in Europe's premier club competition but he was as industrious as ever and as the game passed the hour Ryan Giggs rose to meet Cristiano Ronaldo's cross and score the goal that soothed any lingering nerves.
Benfica were clearly vulnerable in the air and Louis Saha rounded off a hugely satisfying night when he headed in the substitute Darren Fletcher's corner just past the hour. Old Trafford could finally relax.
MAN UTD:Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra (Heinze 67), Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes (Solskjaer 78), Giggs (Fletcher 73), Saha, Rooney. Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Brown, O'Shea, Silvestre. Booked: Rooney, Fletcher. Goals: Vidic 45, Giggs 61, Saha 75.
BENFICA:Quim, Nelson, Luisao, Ricardo Rocha, Leo, Katsouranis, Petit, Simao, Nuno Assis (Karagounis 73), Miccoli (Paulo Jorge 63), Nuno Gomes. Subs Not Used: Moretto, Anderson, Mantorras, Miguelito, Beto. Booked: Ricardo Rocha. Goals: Nelson 27.
Referee:Herbert Fandel (Germany).
