Middlesbrough's UEFA Cup dreams were left hanging by a thread after an explosive first-half finish proved decisive in this first leg for Swiss side Basle tonuight.
The Teessiders headed back from St Jakob Park for next week's quarter-final second leg trailing 2-0 and knowing they will have to score three goals more than Christian Gross' men at the Riverside Stadium if they are to make the last four.
Steve McClaren's side were a match for their hosts - who boast a Champions League victory over Celtic and draws against both Manchester United and Liverpool in the recent past - for much of the game.
However, they were undone inside three devastating minutes at the end of the first half as Argentinian midfielder Matias Delgado claimed his seventh goal in the competition and then David Degan added a second on the stroke of half-time.
Boro came close to pulling one back when Chris Riggott's 51st-minute header hit the bar. But Delgado also saw a free-kick clip the woodwork, and Riggott hacked another effort off the line from substitute Scott Chipperfield.
The Teessiders had conceded only four goals in their previous 10 European games this season, but the Swiss Axpo Super League leaders demonstrated their pedigree with a performance which suggests Boro will have to turn in a stunning display on their own pitch if they are to claw back the deficit.
Fighting in the crowd at half-time marred the evening for the 1,400 or so travelling supporters, but the biggest trouble for Boro came on the pitch.
Boro's game plan was much as it had been against both Stuttgart and Roma in the previous rounds - the pursuit of a potentially invaluable away goal and a clean sheet. Despite threatening on several occasions in the second half 'boro could not find a way past Swiss international goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuhler's.
Their woes were compunded on 68 minutes when defender when Emanuel Pogatetz, who had five stitches put into a facial wound on Sunday, left the pitch on a stretcher with a broken nose and was replaced by Ugo Ehiogu.
It was a dejected visiting side which left the pitch on the final whistle - knowing that, while they are still in the tie with George Boateng and Lee Cattermole available after suspension, they have a mountain to climb.