Leeds United's joy is Catalonia's anguish. The adventure goes on for David O'Leary and his youthful players after sending Barcelona kicking and screaming to the Champions League guillotine last night.
Barcelona beat Besiktas 5-0 at a half-full Nou Camp, but it was Leeds who progressed. And who can say they do not deserve it? David O'Leary's men have displayed a maturity in Europe that has belied their tender years - and this was their finest moment.
The sums were simple. If Leeds could avoid defeat they would gatecrash tomorrow's draw on Milan's coat-tails and European football would be shaken by the news that Barcelona's Champions League business was over already.
Should Leeds lose, however, and Barca triumph, the Catalans would leapfrog Leeds as Group H runners-up on the basis of their head-to-head results. With the financial gains estimated at £15 million, it was never going to be a game for the faint of heart.
For all their elaborate passing, the full-strength Italians seldom threatened in the opening exchanges of a game played on a pitch that looked as though it had been used for a donkey derby.
The anxiety displayed by Leeds was perhaps understandable, but it was their good fortune that their hosts had reserved their ticket for the second phase last month.
The opening period was not even at its midway point when news filtered through of a Barcelona goal and when Milan swiftly won a penalty, the 6,000 Leeds followers who had made the 2,300-mile round trip must have been filled by a queasy sense of foreboding.
The decision provoked prolonged protests from several Leeds players, but there was no doubt that Gary Kelly raised his arm to block Serginho's cross. Shevchenko, scorer of 27 goals in 41 Champions League games, sent Paul Robinson the wrong way, but his spot-kick struck the outside of the goalkeeper's right-hand post and ricocheted to safety. Maybe this was to be Leeds's night, after all.
Two minutes before half-time it certainly looked that way. Mark Viduka's perseverance forced a corner on the right and Lee Bowyer's delivery was met by Dominic Matteo with a precise near-post header.
The elation felt by Leeds was no doubt shared by many of their Premiership colleagues, for the European spin-offs could be most rewarding. UEFA have indicated that England will be given a fourth place in next season's competition - two automatically through and two in the qualifiers - should Leeds squeeze through. Thus Leeds entered the final straight. Work still had to be done, of course, but the expected onslaught failed to materialise. Milan would not have been plunged into mourning to see Barcelona eliminated and on the sporadic occasions the Italians attacked with purpose, Leeds displayed the bristling defiance that has epitomised their coming of age on the continent.
But on 68 minutes they were shaken as Serginho cut through on the left and shot neatly across Robinson for the equaliser.
A 31-year-old Leeds supporter from Barnsley is recovering in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery on an injury to his bladder after being stabbed in an attack in the early hours of yesterday morning in Milan.
AC Milan: Dida, Chamot, Roque Junior, Maldini, Helveg, Gattuso, Albertini, Serginho, Leonardo (Boban 52), Shevchenko, Bierhoff. Subs not used: Abbiati, Jose Mari, Ambrosini, Guly, Sala, Coco. Goals: Serginho 68.
Leeds: Robinson, Kelly, Radebe, Mills, Harte, Bakke, Bowyer, Dacourt, Matteo, Smith, Viduka. Subs not used: Milosevic, Jones, Hay, Burns, Maybury, Evans. Booked: Dacourt. Goals: Matteo 45.
Referee: K Nielsen (Denmark).
