Once again Manchester United must do it the hard way if they are going to make Sir Alex Ferguson's dream Champions League final at Hampden Park become a reality.

Twice United led and twice Bayer Leverkusen pegged them back on a night when Gary Neville joined their casualty list with a broken bone in his foot.

Neville was taken to hospital after coming off in the first half with the same injury David Beckham suffered a fortnight ago.

The England defender will miss United's tricky semi-final return in Germany next week and could be doubtful for the World Cup.

Of more immediate concern to Ferguson will be United's chances of reaching Hampden and they are going to have to repeat their heroics of Turin three years ago to progress.

Ferguson has often joked his players never do things the easy way and they certainly have it all to do in the BayArena on Tuesday.

It had all looked so different when first Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with his 100th goal for the club, and then Ruud van Nistelrooy put United ahead.

But each time the resolute Bundesliga side hauled themselves level, first through that man Michael Ballack and then through substitute Oliver Neuville, who had only been on the pitch for three minutes.

Ferguson had sprung something of a surprise when he included Roy Keane among his substitutes, even though he insisted he would not be available because of his hamstring tear.

Even without Keane, David Beckham, Ronny Johnsen and Quinton Fortune - well the first three anyway - United's starting XI still looked formidable.

Juan Sebastian Veron returned from his latest bout of Achilles trouble to line up on the right, with Solskjaer on the left and Ryan Giggs given licence to attack at will from just behind van Nistelrooy.

Van Nistelrooy should have advanced United another step down the road towards Hampden early on when Giggs nodded down Paul Scholes' 40-yard pass only for the newly-crowned Footballer of the Year to fluff his shot.

United suffered their latest injury blow when Neville was stretchered off following a tackle on Ze Roberto to be replaced by brother Phil.

After Beckham's similar injury two weeks ago it was a horrible case of deja vu for United.

United were struggling to find a way through Leverkusen's well-drilled defence, but they split them open with a good old-fashioned route one move.

Van Nistelrooy flicked on Fabien Barthez's long goal-kick to Solskjaer and the Norwegian shot right-footed just wide.

Solskjaer, seeking his 100th goal for United, had a hand in United's opener on 29 minutes, although the strike took a wicked deflection off Boris Zivkovic.

Scholes began the move with a delightful ball down the right channel for van Nistelrooy and when Solskjaer met his cross, the ball deflected off Zivkovic's chest and past Butt.

Dimitar Berbatov should have equalised five minutes later when he directed a free header wide of Barthez's left-hand post from Carsten Ramelow's cross.

The chances continued to come at both ends and Mikael Silvestre drilled a left-foot effort across the Leverkusen goal before Yildiray Basturk shot just wide.

Leverkusen, who brought Zoltan Sebescen on for the injured Jens Nowotny, dominated after the break and on 62 minutes they deservedly equalised.

Schneider retrieved Ze Roberto's deep cross and pulled the ball back for Ballack to nonchalantly knock home his 32nd goal of the season.

Leverkusen were level for just four minutes when van Nistelrooy restored United's lead with his 10th Champions League goal of the season and his 34th competitive strike in all.

Ze Roberto fouled van Nistelrooy as he went for Veron's through ball, for which the Brazilian was booked, and the striker picked himself up to slot home the spot kick into the bottom left corner.

After Butt had expertly saved a Veron drive, Leverkusen levelled again on 75 minutes.

Oliver Neuville laid claim to Solskjaer's supersub tag when he pounced on a rebound off Butt, the United one that is, to score from six yards out.

With eight minutes to go United brought on Keane as they went for one last push.

But despite Keane's introduction there was no last-minute winner for United who basically must now win in Germany on Tuesday.

Teams

Man Utd: Barthez, Gary Neville (Phil Neville 18), Blanc, Brown, Silvestre, Veron, Butt, Scholes (Keane 82), Solskjaer, van Nistelrooy, Giggs, Phil Neville (Irwin 87).

Subs Not Used: Carroll, Forlan, Stewart, O'Shea.

Booked: Phil Neville.

Goals: Zivkovic 30 og, van Nistelrooy 67 pen.

Bayer Leverkusen: Butt, Zivkovic, Lucio, Nowotny (Sebescen 45), Placente, Ze Roberto, Basturk (Vranjes 77), Ramelow, Ballack, Schneider, Berbatov (Neuville 72).

Subs Not Used: Juric, Babic, Kirsten, Kleine.

Booked: Zivkovic, Ze Roberto.

Goals: Ballack 62, Neuville 75.

Att: 66,534

Ref: L Michel (Slovakia).