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The huge clocks at both ends of this magnificent stadium had both just clicked on to 45:00. Time was up, Bayern were winning and Alex Ferguson's team just had not performed.
Teddy Sheringham's young son was looking forlornly up at the clock. Then his father scored and everything went crazy.
Just as United had done so many, many times this season, they were back ... somehow.
Then, amazingly, they had won. It all happened so fast that even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer probably doesn't know how he did it, but he did.
The evening had started so differently, though. In a cauldron like this and with the May sunshine making Barcelona a steamy host city, the last thing you would have expected was that United would freeze. But they did in the first half-hour.
This fine team has made enjoyment of big occasions their trademark - fear of failure has been absent from their vocabulary.
Yet, before Mario Basler placed his sixth-minute free kick beyond a badly organised wall, and then repeatedly once Bayern were ahead, players like Ronny Johnsen, Jesper Blomqvist, Nicky Butt and even the laid back Dwight Yorke just seemed overwhelmed. Certainly, they fought and were not found wanting in attitude, aggression and even flair intermittently.
Still, the fact remained, it was for desperately long periods a lame imitation of how United normally play.
Bayern started precisely as it had been predicted they would, with a blizzard of energy and threat just like Borussia Dortmund did in defeating Juventus two seasons ago.
Not for Ottmar Hitzfeld's teams the conservative approach to major Finals, he likes to see his players start like streetfighters, grip the game like a vice once ahead and then go for the killer blow when opponents think they are back in the contest.
And, in Basler, the Bayern manager found such an eager disciple.
It will nag at Ferguson and his players that referee Pierluigi Collina seemed to share their big-match nerves. When Johnsen's attempt to deal with the mammoth Carsten Jancker ended with the German centre forward on the ground, the Italian official seemed deeply unsure of his decision.
To anyone familiar with the mental procedures of top-grade referees, it was quite evident that when he set off at a sprint to reach the spot where the incident took place, he was using the running time to make up his mind.
Was it a penalty? Was it outside the box? Was it even a foul?
When his decision was shared with the 22 players, the crowd and the TV-watching millions, it seemed like nothing more and nothing less than a fudge.
Whatever anger United felt about Collina's ruling, it was not enough to jag them out of their torpor. The defensive wall was bedraggled, Jens Jeremies stood at the extreme right-hand end of it and the man known only as 'Super Mario' to Bayern's fans really had no problem in slotting in his goal.
In fact, he looked as if he might have had more trouble lacing up his boots or pulling on his grey jersey, so simple was the strike.
Poor old Nicky Butt, the man who had to step into Roy Keane's boots, was most exposed by the devastating moment. Jeremies was jostling him, Collina was not interested in interceding and as the midfielder tried to get behind his opponent, Jeremies rolled with him, exposed a vast gap and Basler scored. Simple as that.
It was the same goalmouth into which United had conceded a much more thrilling, much better crafted free kick to the Brazilian Rivaldo against Barcelona but this time, again, Peter Schmeichel was left rooted to the spot.
When the United players traipsed off the pitch at half-time, United were at their lowest ebb for many, many months.
Shoulders were low, body language was sending out messages nobody in red wanted to see and only Ferguson had the key to building something inspirational from the rubble which surrounded him.
Somebody in the Nou Camp clearly either had United's cause at heart, or a malicious sense of humour, when they pumped out the strains of Chumbawumba's hit record Tubthumping as the play-ers wandered off.
'I get knocked down, but I get up again' go the lyrics. That has been so true of this mighty season for United, but it just didn't look feasible at that time last night.
The initial efforts to claw back parity - and pride - had been too stodgy to upset the authoritative Germans.
David Beckham produced surge after surge, but either his thigh strain was telling on him or he should have been used on the right wing where he excels, because nothing he did could galvanise his team-mates in the customary manner.
He might well have been United's most prominent and brave player of the first half, but the game was crying out for his return to the flank and those explosive, dangerous crosses.
When Beckham did revert to type, in the 20th minute, his deflected cross left Yorke defying geometry to put a flick on the ball which had Oliver Kahn scrambling furiously to paw it off the line.
Beckham also struck two fabulous corners in that first half-hour but, typically on the night, the chances fizzled out. Conversely, Munich were causing havoc at the other end.
Johnsen and Schmeichel just could not get their act together and for some reason the Danish goalkeeper ended up kicking clear in three panicky situations in that woeful first half.
Even when Beckham struck a free kick, it floated harmlessly past the woodwork instead of putting fear into the opposition.
Then, as United's conviction returned and they desperately fought off the tiredness of their ravaging season, their luck appeared to run out.
Little dummies between Ryan Giggs, Yorke and Cole which have unlocked defences all season suddenly went awry. Blomqvist started giving the ball away, just as he did with such terrible consequences in Milan when he caused Keane to make his bookable tackle which led to suspension from the Final.
When the Swede went off for Sheringham with 25 minutes left, it looked overdue. He had missed United's best chance to that point when Giggs' penetrating cross dropped for Blomqvist to score, but he somehow managed to scoop the ball over the crossbar.
Even when the usually impeccable Kahn bumped into his two defenders, Markus Babbel and Michael Tarnat, the ball sat up invitingly for Yorke or Cole, but the ball would not go in.
There were some chances at both ends. Jaap Stam headed over in the 67th minute and Effenberg smashed a long drive just past soon after. Munich then created some spectacular efforts.
Schmeichel saved superbly from Effenberg's lofted effort on his last night in United colours, Scholl's lob came back off a post and Jancker again hit the woodwork.
The game was a minute into injury-time when Schmeichel ran the length of the field for a corner and in the confusion as Bayern failed to clear, Sheringham side-footed the ball into the corner following a shot by Giggs.
Incredibly, the game was won within seconds when from another Beckham corner, Sheringham flicked on and Solskjaer stabbed home from close range
