DULL, conservative, inert and uninspiring are among the words that have been used to describe Steve McClaren as the England job has slipped through his fingertips over the past seven days, but try telling that to anyone who was at a frenzied Riverside Stadium last night to witness a stunning comeback that ended with Middlesbrough reaching the Uefa Cup final in the most breathtaking circumstances imaginable.

Down and seemingly out after just 24 minutes, with goals from Nicolae Dica and Dorin Goian putting Steaua Bucharest two goals ahead on the night and 3-0 up on aggregate, Middlesbrough needed four goals to progress, just as they had against FC Basle in the previous round.

Lightning could not strike twice, they said, but, incredibly, it did as Massimo Maccarone, again the hero, started and finished a fightback that featured goals from Mark Viduka and Chris Riggott, brilliance on the left wing from Stewart Downing and, not least, a show of audacity from a coach with more than just a point to prove. Middlesbrough now face Seville in Eindhoven on May 10.

This was an incredible evening, one that will live long in the memories of Middlesbrough’s supporters and of the collection of ageing stars and young hopefuls representing them on the pitch, but, at the centre of it all was McClaren, a coach who impressed the blazers at the FA but failed to captivate them as much as Luiz Felipe Scolari. How ironic that it should be a bold early substitution, a show of the type of decisive thinking for which the Brazilian is renowned, that proved the catalyst for a revival that might have had the watching Sven-Göran Eriksson wondering whether tactical inertia is not so much a European disease as a Swedish one.

McClaren had watched in disbelief from the directors’ box in the opening stages as Dica, after Brad Jones spilt Petre Marin’s swerving shot, then Goian, after the young goalkeeper and Stuart Parnaby failed to clear his first effort, scored to put Steaua within touching distance of the final.

Rather than sit back and watch the disaster unfold, though, he marched down to the touchline, sent on Maccarone in place of Gareth Southgate and gambled everything on a policy of all-out attack that heightened the enthusiasm of his team’s supporters.

Few can truly have believed it when Maccarone, rampaging through the inside-right channel to race on to Viduka’s clever pass, reduced the arrears in the 31st minute, but, for McClaren, there was a glimmer of hope.

“From then on, the momentum was with us,” the manager said. “I said to the players at half-time: ‘Can you score three?’ They were unanimous.” The first of the remaining three, though, was a long time in coming. Just 26 minutes were left when Downing, by now playing at left back after the latest switch by his manager, sent in a hanging cross that Viduka reached ahead of Carlos Alberto Fernandes, the Steaua goalkeeper, to make it 2-2 on the night. Nine minutes later, Downing struck a cross-shot that the goalkeeper failed to hold and the loose ball was scrambled home by Riggott.

Still the miracle seemed out of reach as the endeavours of a marathon campaign seemed to catch up with Middlesbrough’s players in the closing stages. Incredibly, though, they raised themselves once more to reach the summit as Maccarone arrived at the far post to head home yet another Downing cross in the 89th minute. Steve Gibson, the chairman, was on his feet, but still some nervous moments remained as Ugo Ehiogu flung himself in the way of Dica’s shot deep into stoppage time before the Slovakian referee blew his whistle to spark perhaps the biggest party Teesside has witnessed.

By this stage, Eriksson had already taken his leave, but his assistant, back in his day job, was celebrating the greatest moment of his career.

McClaren said that, in the comeback stakes, it surpassed that of Manchester United against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final, when he was assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson.

He might need a comeback to top them all if he is to beat Scolari to the England job. Some will say he should not hold his breath. After this, he will struggle to catch it.

MIDDLESBROUGH (3-5-2): B Jones — C Riggott, G Southgate (sub: M Maccarone, 26min), F Queudrue — S Parnaby, F Rochemback, G Boateng, S Downing, A Taylor (sub: Yakubu Ayegbeni, 55) — M Viduka, J F Hasselbaink (sub: U Ehiogu, 90). Substitutes not used: M Bates, R Parlour, L Cattermole, D Knight. Booked: Boateng, Hasselbaink.

STEAUA BUCHAREST (4-4-2): A C Fernandes — G Ogararu, D Goian, S Ghionea, P Marin — D Oprita (sub: E Baciu, 81) M Radoi, F Lovin, G Bostina (sub: M Nesu, 87) — V Iacob (sub: D Balan, 66), N Dica. Substitutes not used: V Simion, V Cristocea, A Cristea, C Gernea. Booked: Dica, Fernandes, Balan.

Referee: L Michel (Slovakia)