For as long as this tie retained a semblance of life, with Manchester United sitting slightly awkwardly on a two-goal lead from the first leg, Gary Neville sat anxiously on the substitutes’ bench, praying for the goal that would kill off AS Roma’s challenge and usher him back on to the Old Trafford pitch after a 13-month absence. Finally that goal came, from Carlos Tévez in the closing stages, and so the United captain made his long-awaited comeback, enjoying a brief run-out that will have had him dreaming of lifting the Champions League trophy in Moscow on May 21.

That would be quite a script, one that can only be enriched by a mouthwatering semi-final against Barcelona, but it is one that might have been torn up had Daniele De Rossi not missed a first-half penalty for Roma.

By his own admission, Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, had gambled with his team selection — leaving out Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, recalling Mikaël Silvestre after a seven-month absence and giving 90 minutes to Rio Ferdinand, who now has a cut right foot to go with his bruised left — but ultimately his decision was vindicated, with United through, Ronaldo rested in advance of the Barclays Premier League match against Arsenal on Sunday and, finally, Neville back in the action, if only for nine minutes.

Ferguson had produced a smile for the television cameras beforehand as he explained the thinking behind his calculated gamble, saying that he was “paid to be successful all season and not just in one game”. As he added that he would be a genius if it worked and a fool if it backfired, you sensed that he knew what lay in prospect — an evening that involved the odd palpitation, but also allowed some key personnel to rest and several others to get some much-needed match practice — even if Roma will feel with some justification that United were let off the hook by De Rossi’s penalty miss.

Was it a penalty? Ferguson’s views on the matter were plain for all to see. Having seen a replay of the incident on his monitor next to the dugout, the United manager gestured furiously to the referee that Mancini had dived over a challenge from Wes Brown. Even after the penalty had been missed, Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz, his assistant, continued to remonstrate angrily. They felt that Brown had won the ball cleanly with his right foot and that Mancini had deliberately cocked his leg in order to deceive the referee, but television replays showed that there had indeed been contact. Even if it was not entirely clear-cut, it is fair to say that Ferguson has vilified referees for failing to award United penalties in similar circumstances.

Happily for United, the decision was to prove academic, with De Rossi ballooning his shot into the Stretford End and then placing his shirt over his head in embarrassment. Entrusted with the penalty in the absence of the injured Francesco Totti, he seemed to sense that, in that moment, he had squandered Roma’s chance of reaching the semi-finals, but even then they had opportunities to reduce their deficit. Rodrigo Taddei caused panic in the United defence, allowing De Rossi to flick the ball goalwards, only for Brown to clear, while a swerving shot from Mirko Vucinic, four minutes into the second half, forced Edwin van der Sar into an awkward save.

Such anxieties had not seemed in prospect in the opening stages, with United trying to emulate what they had done 12 months earlier, when three goals in the opening 20 minutes had put them on course for that unforgettable 7-1 win over the Italian side. Tévez and Ryan Giggs were combining superbly, while Owen Hargreaves was rampaging around the pitch like a man with a point to prove, which, of course, he was, having started only one of United’s previous six matches.

Franco Baldini, the general manager of the England team, may have been surprised to see Hargreaves deployed in such an advanced position, as one of four attacking midfield players operating in support of Tévez, but Hargreaves warmed to his role. He sent in a couple of vicious crosses from the right, setting up chances that allowed Anderson and Giggs to test Doni as his driving runs took him beyond the Roma defence. After a difficult few weeks, in which he has incurred Ferguson’s wrath for poor timekeeping, he may have played his way back into the manager’s good books.

Gerard Piqué, the Spanish defender, was another who did himself no harm, but it was the game’s two outstanding players who combined to kill off Roma. Tévez pirouetted away from a defender on the halfway line and sent the ball to the right, where Hargreaves paused before sending in a menacing cross and Tévez, having continued his run, was there to beat Doni with a diving header. The Argentina player then celebrated by revealing a crudely written birthday message to his daughter, Ariel, under his shirt.

On another night it would have been remembered as a great goal, but on this occasion it merely brought succour, relief and, for Neville, the long-awaited cue to return to the stage.

Manchester United (4-1-4-1): E van der Sar – W Brown, R Ferdinand, G Piqué, M Silvestre – M Carrick (sub: J O’Shea, 74min) – Park Ji Sung, O Hargreaves, Anderson (sub: G Neville, 81), R Giggs (sub: W Rooney, 74) – C Tévez. Substitutes not used: T Kuszczak, P Scholes, C Ronaldo, D Welbeck.

AS Roma (4-2-3-1): Doni – C Panucci, P Mexès, Juan, M Cassetti (sub: M Tonetto, 56) – D De Rossi, D Pizarro (sub: L Giuly, 69) – R Taddei (sub: M Esposito, 81), S Perrotta, Mancini – M Vucinic. Substitutes not used: G Curci, Cicinho, M Brighi, A Aquilani. Booked: Perrotta.

Referee: T H Ovrebo (Norway).