Alan Pardew had labelled Thursday's Europa League first leg tie as 'Mission Possible', but after a typical evening of triumph and despair from his side, Newcastle now need a flawless display at both ends of the field next week if they are to win a place in the last four.

Coming into this game having lost on home soil only to Barcelona in the previous 12 months and with a 29 game unbeaten domestic record, the extent of our task was apparent even with a full strength side, let alone one without messrs Ben Arfa, Coloccini, Debuchy, Haidara and Tiote. 

United's thirteenth European tie of the season had the feel of a grand occasion in the same way of our previous visits to Barcelona, Milan and Rotterdam and the comparison with the Nou Camp is certainly a valid one in terms of status - and breathtaking merchandise prices in the club shop. 

The real Stadium of Light had 20,000 empty seats tonight, but remained a suitably imposing venue and the surroundings seemed to inspire the away contingent, who provided great vocal backing to their side and were applauded by home fans in the stand to their left after full time. 

Before kickoff the home side's eagle mascot had memorably swooped around the stands and playing area, but it was Papiss Cisse who looked in the mood to hunt down his prey on the field. The number 9 poked home Moussa Sissoko's low centre and came desperately close to a second soon after - seeing his deflected shot from close range strike a post and rebound to Brazilian goalkeeper Artur.

Instead though, the next name on the scoresheet was a home player as Moreno scored the first goal we've conceded in this competition in 402 minutes. 

That brought the Portuguese League leaders more into the game and woke up their slumbering support, but United made it to the interval on level terms; thanks in part to Tim Krul's fine stop to deny the goalscorer, with the Dutchman in good form on his return from a four match absence.

Kicking towards their support, again United seized the initiative from the first whistle and Cisse again latched onto Sylvain Marveaux's pass and clipped the ball beyond Artur - only to again be denied by the woodwork. Had that gone in, the world may have been a very different place.

Instead though that let-off for Benfica prompted a response and they missed a glaring chance to take the lead for the first time on 56 minutes, when Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa surrendered possession to Rodrigo in the area but Cardozo thankfully blasted wide. 

With home fans and riot police tussling behind the goal for reasons that remained unclear, Davide Santon's awful back pass led to Benfica's second of the evening and marked the point that this all started to unravel from a Newcastle perspective. Further tragedy quickly followed as Steven Taylor handled a cross in his own box and although Cardozo's initial conversion was ruled out for encroachment, he confidently fired home at the second attempt.

At that point memories of the 1-4 horror show at nearby Sporting Lisbon eight years earlier were brought to mind, but United managed to see the game through to full time without conceding again to give themselves at least a theoretical chance of advancing in the second leg. 

For them to do so will first of all require a more focused defensive performance to record what is almost a pre-requisite clean sheet. We usually leave match statistics for others to slice, but a corner count of 12-0 in favour of Benfica is worthy of note, as is the 19-6 goal attempt tally.

That more attacking flair and midfield steel are needed in the return leg is a no-brainer, but the tricky part for the manager remains balancing his need for goals with the requirement not to allow Benfica to profit on the counter attack.  

The return of Cheick Tiote could bolster the midfield (unless he's in one of his Kamikaze moods), but inspirational displays of the type sadly lacking from the unadventurous Yohan Cabaye tonight are also pre-requisites. 

If any sort of shift can be coaxed out of Hatem Ben Arfa, that may be our best, slight, hope. If Tyneside does witness a miracle on Thursday, it won't be the work of Jesus.... 

A night of high drama awaits, with the possibility (in theory at least) of a penalty shootout to decide our fate. That uncertainty remains the essence of cup football: in order to achieve something memorable the occasion has to be created, in other words you can only achieve an against all odds triumph in the order of Feyenoord by getting in a mess previously.  

Unlike that fabulous night back in November 2002 there'll be 50,000 fans present, cheering and willing their heroes on to victory. Our uncomfortable league position threatens to undermine the occasion though and much will depend on whether three points have been earned from Fulham. 

The reality remains that the second leg is the least important of the three home games this week, in terms of the future financial health of the club. The vastly increasing rewards of Premier League membership though mean that preserving our status remains paramount, even to the exclusion of much coveted silverware. Sad, isn't it?

Biffa