The younger Neville brother scored the kind of individual goal normally associated with his more extravagantly-gifted team-mates and then showed the qualities he is renowned for with a goal-line clearance to prevent a Rangers equaliser.

Neville’s goal came with only a few minutes on the clock, early enough for Rangers to have plenty of opportunity to recover but a combination of poor finishing and stalwart defending made it a night of frustration for Alex McLeish’s side.

Instead it was left to his mentor Alex Ferguson to enjoy his homecoming to the full, the atmosphere generated by the sea of blue making for a memorable Champions League night.

Rangers at least avoided the drubbing many fans had feared but the waywardness of their shooting, with Peter Lovenkrands the biggest culprit, will have left their supporters wondering what might have been.

There was plenty of passion early on and Waterford man John O’Shea was booked seconds into the match for scything down Lovenkrands.

A bright opening by Rangers may have given some hope to their fans but that early optimism lasted less than five minutes as Phil Neville played a one-two from Ruud van Nistelrooy and, as four Rangers players stood off, twisted into the penalty area before placing the ball low into the corner to give United the lead.

Ryan Giggs, playing in an advanced role, showed more signs of the danger facing Rangers when a neat backheel extricated himself from a tight spot, then he picked up an inside pass from van Nistelrooy, raced to within 25 yards and struck a powerful drive that Stefan Klos was grateful to see sail wide.

There were howls for a penalty when Paolo Vanoli went down under Quinton Fortune’s challenge but referee Anders Frisk looked to have been correct in waving the appeals away.

Rangers fans had to wait 25 minutes for their first effort on target, Lovenkrands cutting in from the right and firing in low but the angle was tight and Tim Howard was not stretched.

Rangers finally began to force the issue only to be guilty of wastefulness in threatening positions.

Lovenkrands was the first offender, slicing into touch, then Vanoli scuffed wide after United’s defence made a hash of clearing the ball.

Henning Berg’s block kept out Paul Scholes – the former team-mate he views as on a par with Zinedine Zidane – then Vanoli was once again off-target when presented with an excellent shooting chance after Michael Mols’ attempted scissors-kick had landed at his feet.

Buoyed by these openings Rangers pushed forward and Shota Arveladze produced a screamer from 30 yards that seemed destined for the top corner only for Howard to match the Georgian’s quality with a vital tip-over.

Having sucked Rangers in, United nearly sprang the trap and van Nistelrooy would have been clean through but Giggs’ attempted pass was terrible.

With half-time approaching the home side were grateful to Arteta for keeping them in the game with clearance off the line from Mikael Silvestre’s flicked header.

United put on the squeeze from the start of the second half, pressurising the Rangers goal with a series of attacks.

On 52 minutes a goal seemed on the cards when van Nistelrooy wriggled onto Paul Scholes’ pass but for once the Dutchman’s aim was awry.

Quinton Fortune then set up Roy Keane - who began to dominate midfield - who could not finish off a storming run, Klos producing a reaction save to parry a hammered shot.

Rangers needed to ease the pressure and did so with three penetrating attacks which tested United to the full.

First Phil Neville cleared off the line to keep out Craig Moore’s header, then Rio Ferdinand was the United saviour, stretching out a long leg to deny Lovenkrands a certain goal.

Lovenkrands had another chance, meeting Arveladze’s corner with a strong header but this time Howard saved himself.

Howard had to be smart to deny Fernando Ricksen before United once more began to establish their superiority with van Nistelrooy twice having openings, forcing Klos into a good save and then seeing poor control allow a clearer chance to go begging.

With time ticking away Lovenkrands’ pace earned the Dane another opportunity but once again he fired wide.

When Mols header was saved by Howard in injury time United were home and dry, although the margin could have been greater had the visitors been awarded a penalty for an injury-time trip by Berg on Scholes which referee Anders Frisk did not penalise.