Middlesbrough 4 FC Basel 1 (Middlesbrough win 4-3 on aggregate): On an electric night on Teesside, Middlesbrough produced one of the most uplifting comeback displays imaginable, the club sealing their passage to a semi-final meeting with Steaua Bucharest with a 90th-minute goal from Massimo Maccarone.
The Italian was one of four Boro strikers as Steve McClaren went for broke.
All or nothing is not a description often used of McClaren's managerial philosophy but Boro played out the last 20 minutes and more of this invigorating second leg with Mark Viduka, Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Maccarone.
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg in Switzerland last Thursday, Boro fell 3-0 behind on aggregate following Eduardo's 23rd-minute opener. Boro sensed some hope when Viduka equalised on 33 minutes but the evening and anticipation really picked up when Viduka's second went in.
When substitute Hasselbaink made it 3-1 with 11 minutes left, and with Basel reduced to 10 men with Daniel Majstorovic's dismissal, the Riverside exploded. It was nothing like the noise when Maccarone pounced on a late rebound.
Games can change as swiftly as perceptions of any manager and this contest could have been stood on its head after just 10 seconds. George Boateng, back after being absent in Switzerland last week through suspension, played Yakubu into the Basel area.
From the opposite direction came Pascal Zuberbuhler but the Basel goalkeeper, perhaps sensing a physical blow from Yakubu, made no great contact and the ball spilled to Yakubu. The Nigerian was 10 yards out with his back to goal and, maybe waiting for the referee's whistle to sound for an infringement, stroked a gentle effort a foot wide of the empty net.
Boro's chairman Steve Gibson had pleaded with the reluctant Teesside public to roar their team on and a healthy noise greeted the players. The volume would have been raised greatly by a 10-second goal.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Parnaby, Riggott, Southgate, Queudrue (Maccarone 67), Morrison (Hasselbaink 45), Boateng, Rochemback (Taylor 90), Downing, Viduka, Yakubu. Subs Not Used: Jones, Ehiogu, Doriva, Davies. Booked: Riggott, Maccarone. Goals: Viduka 33, 57, Hasselbaink 79, Maccarone 90.
BASEL: Zuberbuhler, Zanni, Majstorovic, Smiljanic, Berner, Degen (Chipperfield 61), Delgado (Ergic 70), Ba, Petric, Sterjovski (Quennoz 85), Eduardo Da Silva. Subs Not Used: Crayton, Rakitic, Kulaksizoglu. Sent Off: Majstorovic (73). Booked: Majstorovic, Degen, Zuberbuhler. Goals: Eduardo Da Silva 23.
Referee: Igor Zakharov (Moscow),
