Sir Alex Ferguson's dream of lifting the European Cup at his beloved shrine has ended in the cruellest circumstances.

Ferguson saw his hopes of making a triumphant return to Hampden Park and his native Glasgow dashed when Manchester United lost on the away goals rule in the BayArena.

Roy Keane put United on course for the final when he opened the scoring on 28 minutes.

But then in first-half stoppage time Oliver Neuville, who scored Bayer Leverkusen's second equaliser at Old Trafford last Wednesday, levelled.

That proved to be the decisive goal, and Leverkusen held on to squeeze through on the away goals rule.

It was a sickening end to United's Champions League campaign, and they deserved better than this after the way they had played this season.

But instead Ferguson's misery against German sides continues, and he has managed to win just one of his 11 matches against Bundesliga opposition.

For the second time this season, Ferguson deployed Juan Veron in the hole behind Ruud van Nistelrooy now that chief stoker Roy Keane was restored to the Reds' engine room.

Ronny Johnsen returned from his hamstring injury to partner Laurent Blanc at centre-half, with Wes Brown moving across to right back.

Leverkusen, conquerors of Liverpool in the quarter-finals, made just the one change from last week - with Neuville replacing Dimitar Berbatov.

The Bundesliga side were dealt an early blow when captain Jens Nowotny went off with damaged cruciate ligaments following a challenge with van Nistelrooy to be replaced by Zoltan Sebescen.

Leverkusen's bad luck continued on 13 minutes when Diego Placente teed up Bernd Schneider, and his right-foot curling effort came off Fabien Barthez's left-hand post with the Frenchman beaten.

United weathered this anxious opening and came close to taking the lead when Placente cleared Johnsen's header from Ryan Giggs' corner off the line.

The semi-final second leg was beginning to open up, and Schneider dragged a shot wide before Neuville fired over from a difficult opening on the run.

Ferguson had hailed Keane as United's most influential player ever before the game, and on 28 minutes the hero of Turin lived up to his top billing when he scored for the Reds.

It was a lovely passing move, which sliced Leverkusen open. Veron found Keane, who laid the ball off to van Nistelrooy - and in turn the Dutchman played in the United captain to round Leverkusen goalkeeper Jorg Butt and score from the narrow angle on the left.

It was only his fourth goal of the season and appeared at the time to be easily his most precious. United were ahead on the night and in the tie overall, and Leverkusen now had to score to halt the Reds' march on Hampden Park.

Nicky Butt became the first of the four United players to fall off the disciplinary tightrope when he was booked for a foul on Neuville - and he would have been suspended for the final had the Reds made it.

Buoyed by Keane's goal, United pushed for a killer second, and Veron's goalbound drive was deflected off Yildiray Basturk and over the bar before Butt reached back to pluck a Johnsen header out of the air before it could cross the line.

But then in the second minute of first-half stoppage time the tie turned Leverkusen's way when Neuville collected Michael Ballack's ball and fired home an equaliser off the underside of the bar from the edge of the D.

Now it was Leverkusen were who in the ascendancy, and Barthez denied Neuville a second after the interval when dived to his right to keep out his 20-yard drive.

Blanc then made a timely intervention when he headed Neuville's cross away from the unmarked Placente, who was waiting to strike six yards out.

United made a double substitution on the hour mark in an attempt to find the goal that would take them to Hampden.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came on for Butt - while Denis Irwin replaced the injured Johnsen, and Brown moved across to centre-half.

The goal would not come, and with time running out United brought on Diego Forlan for Brown as they went for broke.

In the dying minutes Forlan thought he had done it only for Placente to head his shot off the line - and then Solskjaer blazed over.

Those proved to be United's last chances as Leverkusen's unlikely lads held on to make it to Hampden.

Teams

Bayer Leverkusen: Butt, Zivkovic, Nowotny (Sebescen 10), Lucio, Placente, Basturk (Vranjes 79), Schneider, Ramelow, Ballack, Ze Roberto, Neuville (Berbatov 85).

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

Booked: Ze Roberto.

Goals: Neuville 45.

Man Utd: Barthez, Brown (Forlan 81), Blanc, Johnsen (Irwin 60), Silvestre, Scholes, Keane, Veron, Butt (Solskjaer 60), Giggs, van Nistelrooy.

Subs Not Used: Carroll, Phil Neville, Fortune, O'Shea.

Booked: Butt, Scholes, Irwin.

Goals: Keane 28.

Agg (3-3) Bayer Leverkusen win on Away Goals Rule

Att: 22,500

Ref: K Nielsen (Denmark).