Leeds United's first venture into Champions League territory turned sour last night and as a result their campaign is in danger of fizzling out before it has hardly begun.
It was a header from 1860's Martin Max three minutes into injury time which secured the all-important away goal for his club, and it left the Germans as hot favourites to progress to the group stage.
To compound Leeds' misery they had two players, Olivier Dacourt and Eirik Bakke, sent off in the second half, and both will miss the return leg in 13 day's time.
David O'Leary was forced to tinker with his usual 4-4-2 formation, fielding an adventurous 4-3-3 line-up with both of the summer recruits, Mark Viduka and Dacourt, making home debuts. On a muggy night the hosts started hesitantly, the neat passing game which had served them so well last season rarely being in evidence during a stagnant opening.
1860 threatened only occasionally on the counter-attack. But it was the lack of chances at the other end that would have troubled O'Leary as his players shuffled along as though they had failed to realise the extent of the rewards on offer.
At times, indeed, there were so many misplaced passes and aggrieved expressions it was easy to allow thoughts to drift back to the summer and England's turgid efforts in the European Championships, the only obvious difference being that Leeds had, in Ian Harte, a left-footed player on parade.
O'Leary was perturbed enough to leave his seat in the directors' box after 39 minutes and, as if by magic, his team took the lead inside 60 seconds.
Predictably enough it emanated from a defensive mistake, Martin Stranzl attempting to cushion a header back to his goalkeeper Michael Hofmann but failing to get enough purchase on the ball, enabling Alan Smith to register Leeds' first goal of the season with an alert header.
Within a minute it was looking even brighter for Leeds. Ned Zelic, once of QPR and an Australia team-mate of Viduka's, had a rush of blood and despite his reckless challenge on Lucas Radebe, was unfortunate to see the red card.
The second half was another moribund affair. Leeds showed plenty of huff and puff but precious little guile while for the most part 1860, marshalled by the recently retired Germany international Thomas Hassler, seemed happy to hold on at 1-0. If that was their intention, however, they were undone when Harald Cerny upended Smith inside the penalty area after 72 minutes and Ian Harte sent Hofmann the wrong way from the resultant spotkick.
Dacourt's second yellow card - his first was for a foul, the the second a dive - left him with only himself to blame while Bakke soon joined him in the dressing room after picking up his own brace of bookings, the first for an elbow and the second for handball. How costly they were remains to be seen.
Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Harte, Dacourt, Radebe, Bridges (Mills 80), Viduka, Bowyer, Smith, Bakke, Duberry. Subs Not Used: Huckerby, Robinson, McMaster, Molenaar, G. Evans, Hackworth.
1860 Munich: Hoffmann, Zelic, Kurz, Votava, Max, Haessler, Cerny, Mykland, Stranzl (Winkler 83), Agostino, Bierofka (Passlack 46). Subs Not Used: Beierle, Borimirov, Reidl, Ehlers, Jentsch.
