Sir Alex Ferguson branded Bayer Leverkusen "lucky" last night and claimed Oliver Neuville's equaliser deep into first-half stoppage-time might have come after the allotted two minutes of added time.
"I think in any game you need that bit of luck and there were four opportunities cleared off the line," said the disappointed United manager. "That's why we needed that little bit of luck, particularly with the last one with Diego Forlan's great lob and the defender has done fantastic to clear it.
"Leverkusen got that luck tonight with their equalising goal. That was the decisive moment right before half-time and it might have been more than the two minutes.
"That was a terrible blow for us to go in at 1-1 at half-time after looking at that point that we were going to score more goals. We then took 15 minutes to get going in the second half."
Ferguson said it was his biggest disappointment in Europe since losing to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals in 1997.
"It doesn't matter where the final is and if you lose in any semi-final it is a disappointing occasion," he added. "I think it's the worst defeat losing in the semi-finals. There's not a lot you can say to the players in these situations and there's a lot of disappointment understandably."
Bayer Leverkusen's coach Klaus Toppmöller was ecstatic. "This is a dream come true," he said. "This is a time for cigarettes and drink and then tomorrow I will go and see Real Madrid play Barcelona. Jokingly I said I would like to go and congratulate Real Madrid in person on their 100th anniversary and now it looks like that will happen in the final.
"This really is unbelievable and Manchester United are a fantastic team, but we have made the dream come true."
Toppmöller's joy was tempered by a cruciate ligament injury to Jens Nowotny which will rule him out of Germany's tilt at the World Cup, and the Brazilian Ze Roberto picked up a booking which means he is suspended for the final at Hampden Park in a fortnight's time.
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