Well, it can hardly get any worse. Leeds United were unable to find too many consoling factors from their first taste of Champions League football last night but one of them most certainly was that they will not have to encounter too many sides displaying the slickness and invention that Barcelona showed here. Having said that, Leeds meet AC Milan next Tuesday.
However, even a side containing players of the stature of Paolo Maldini and Andrei Shevchenko will struggle to better some of the football Barcelona produced in front of an engrossed and nearly full Nou Camp. This was the "drubbing" David O'Leary had feared, although it was probably the most educational Leeds will receive for some time.
As a contest this was all over as early as the 20th minute when Frank De Boer rifled in Barca's magnificent second goal, Rivaldo already having split Leeds in the 10th minute. Barcelona could have scored on several more occasions before Patrick Kluivert added a third with 15 minutes to go and then the fourth with a diagonal shot across Nigel Martyn in the 84th minute.
By contrast, Leeds managed just one shot on target - from Ian Harte in the 46th minute - forcing Richard Dutruel's only save of note. If all this was not bad enough the Leeds captain Lucas Radebe was carried off with his neck in a brace after a late collision with Michael Duberry.
A point had always seemed like the limit of their ambition and in a curious way a lot was going to depend on how Duberry performed. Leeds have the means to try to cover for absentees like Harry Kewell and Jason Wilcox, but Duberry, regarded as the team's weakest link, is the man who has been asked to replace the injured Jonathan Woodgate. Duberry has neither Woodgate's ability nor his mobility.
But if the weakest link was strong then Leeds had a chance. And the opening skirmishes were promising, Duberry managing interceptions on passes from Rivaldo and Kluivert. Then came a fifth-minute foul on Dani - Martyn tipping away the resultant free-kick from Marc Overmars - and five minutes later came Duberry's first real test of temperament.
Admittedly it was a difficult test, stopping Rivaldo as the Brazilian shimmied into the Leeds box. Rivaldo had been released by a short, sharp pass from the right-winger Simao and suddenly the theoretical Leeds white blanket was shredded by the combination of precision and movement.
In a split second Duberry had become Leeds' last defender. One drop of Rivaldo's left shoulder, though, and Duberry was a lost defender, skidding across the turf in a white blur. Rivaldo, meanwhile, steadied himself, picked out the bottom corner and found it.
It was just the start Leeds did not want. Two minutes later, however, there was a fleeting glimpse of an equaliser when Michael Bridges floated a cross to the far post where Alan Smith was preparing to bury the header. Then, from nowhere, Overmars appeared to nod the ball to safety.
That said much about Barcelona's appetite and about Overmars' desire to win over his new audience. He won another small battle in that respect when he scorched past Gary Kelly and set up Dani to shoot over, but Barcelona had their second in the 20th minute anyway. De Boer scored it with a scintillating free-kick after Olivier Dacourt had perpetrated his umpteenth foul of the game on Rivaldo. De Boer's strike, from 30 yards, soared into Martyn's top corner. The quality was such that the 90,000 here applauded rather than cheered.
Seventy minutes to go and already Leeds were in damage limitation mode. But for Duberry's block on Rivaldo it could have been much worse and Leeds' increasingly jumpy defence was grateful for poor finishes by Rivaldo and Dani before half-time. Martyn also made a useful save with his legs to deny the rising star of Spanish football, Gerard, signed from Valencia this summer. Gerard simply strode away from Stephen McPhail.
That was only one example of the problem facing O'Leary's side. For an occasion such as this Leeds will have been instructed to keep play tight and constantly interrupted. Instead, on this vast pitch, the match was elongated and fluid and Leeds were in danger of been washed away.
O'Leary can rarely have had a more daunting interval team-talk yet whatever he said almost had an immediate effect. The second half was not even a minute old when Dacourt found Bridges wide on the right wing. Bridges' centre was perfect for Harte to volley; this Harte did but Dutruel was able to save on his line.
Shortly after that Harte went close with his right foot from distance but if that suggests that Leeds were establishing an attacking presence it should be said that in the same period Overmars, twice, and Gerard, twice, worried Martyn's woodwork.
Kluivert was rather more clinical, first sliding in ahead of Duberry at the near post to divert Simao's cross under Martyn, then accepting substitute Ivan De La Pena's pass before driving an angled shot into the top corner. On the night Martyn had literally been beaten all ends up. He was not the only one.
Maybe Leeds should not have turned up in the kit of Real Madrid.
Barcelona: Dutruel, Abelardo, de Boer, Sergi, Simao, Gerard, Cocu (Petit 53), Overmars, Kluivert, Rivaldo (Alfonso 74), Dani (De La Pena 65). Subs Not Used: Arnau, Reiziger, Santamaria, Macedo da Silva. Booked: Kluivert. Goals: Rivaldo 10, de Boer 20, Kluivert 75, 84.
Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Duberry, Radebe (Hay 89), Mills, Bowyer, Dacourt, McPhail (Hackworth 74), Harte, Bridges, Smith. Subs Not Used: Robinson, Huckerby, Jones, Burns, Evans. Booked: Mills, Smith.
Referee: M Merk (Germany).
