THE MOST remarkable moment of a remarkable evening at Old Trafford on Wednesday came when Eric Cantona cradled the head of Andy Cole in his hands. From Cantona's pass the Manchester United striker had scored, the fourth goal against Porto - which has virtually guaranteed United a place in the semi-finals of the European Cup.
It had long since been assumed that Cantona would not be averse to getting his hands on Cole's head, but only if it had become detached from Cole's neck. If such apparently polarised talents have really found common ground then, for Alex Ferguson's team, all things are now possible.
The probability is that, barring a catastrophic night in the Das Antas Stadium in a fortnight, along with a resurgence by Auxerre in chablis country, United will be meeting Borussia Dortmund for a place in the final in Munich on May 28th.
For the moment, however, it is enough for United to bask briefly in the warmth of knowing that Wednesday's cannonade, which reduced Porto's defences to rubble and brought United a famous 4-0 victory, is still echoing around Europe. Juventus are still favourites to retain the trophy, but now it is United, not Porto, who are coming up on the rails.
Calls for a winter break are unlikely to be echoed in the corridors of Old Trafford, at least not for the time being. United owed Wednesday's performance to the revival which has brought them back to the top of the Premiership with the prospect of a fourth championship in five seasons growing by the week.
They entered the Champions League diffidently, on tip-toe almost. Ferguson put down their initial 1-0 defeat by Juventus in Turin to the younger players being overawed. When Fenerbahce ended United's 40-year-old unbeaten home record in Europe at Old Trafford it seemed that there was still too much to learn in too little time.
On reflection the spirit, if not the substance, of United's second-half revival against Juventus in the return game marked the start of the process which culminated in Wednesday's performance. United still looked a team of European tyros, but crucially they gained the confidence which enabled them to qualify for the quarter-finals with a composed 2-0 victory over Rapid Vienna in the Ernst Happel Stadium.
Wednesday's win combined youthful zest with the wisdom of experience. This time a two-goal lead was not frittered away through a desire to pose and embellish. That had been United's fate in the 3-3 draw at home to Galatasaray which had led to their early departure in 1993.
Not conceding a goal to Porto's propensity for the swift counter attack was as important as scoring four at the other end. And at least Gary Pallister, for whom memories of Romario and Barcelona's 4-0 victory over United at Nou Camp in 1994 must still be grim, proved he could still live on the same field as a Brazilian, in this case Jardel.
Teamwork, organisation, good passing and explosive speed underlay Wednesday's result. Inevitably, however, one United player stood out and, almost as inevitably, it was, Ryan Giggs.
Tucked into midfield alongside David Beckham and deprived, through injury, of Roy Keane's comforting presence, Giggs produced one of the best individual performances by a United player in Europe since George Best destroyed Benfica in the Stadium of Light in 1966.
Giggs is not another Best. In the modern set-up he does note need to be. But those who still criticise the Welshman's end could not argue with his influence in this game, the consistency with which he instigated attacks, beat opponents with the ball and created space.
Assuming, for the moment, that Dortmund will be barring, United's journey to Munich, what then? It would be easy, in the wake of Wednesday's euphoria to assume that United have cracked it.
But Dortmund have Matthias Saminer, Andy Moller, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Stephane Chapuisat and another Portuguese Paulo Sousa, in their ranks, and English football has had quite enough of the German experience recently to take nothing on trust.
