Champions League/Sporting Lisbon 1; Middlesborough 0: Freak weather in Lisbon saw temperatures jump into the mid-70s fahrenheit yesterday but Middlesbrough failed to make the equally big leap required to propel themselves into the quarter-finals.
Manager Steve McClaren had insisted that "mountains are there for climbing" and that overturning Sporting's 3-2 first-leg advantage in no way represented "mission impossible".
Those brave words were ultimately in vain as his injury-ravaged side departed the tournament.
Boro nearly took the lead after an early counter-attack which concluded with goalkeeper Ricardo demonstrating his agility by diverting Szilard Nemeth's seemingly goalbound shot with an outstretched foot.
Perhaps alarmed by the news that McClaren yesterday submitted Boro's application to enter next season's Intertoto Cup, which entails playing competitive matches in mid-July and an accordingly abridged summer break, his team began worrying Sporting sufficiently for Jose Peseiro, the home coach, to make a tactical susbstitution.
It came 10 minutes before half-time and saw Hugo, a central defender, replaced by Douala, a striker as Sporting switched from 4-1-3-2 to 3-4-3. It appeared a risky policy but within three minutes of that switch, Mark Schwarzer made his first proper save of the evening from Hugo Viana.
Still on loan from Newcastle, Viana was deployed of the left of a midfield who seemed taken aback by the determination of Boro's Doriva and Bolo Zenden in the centre.
Having dropped heavy hints that he will probably leave Teesside in the summer if European football is not assured next season - and he was not talking about the Intertoto - Zenden effectively placed himself in the shop window and his performance had a zeal sometimes absent on low-profile English occasions.
McClaren must have wished Mark Viduka was around to run on to some of Zenden's deliveries but the Australian is raising eyebrows by making a perplexingly slow recovery from back and hamstring injuries. With 10 other squad members also ailing, Boro's second-stringers are at least being offered chances to prove their worth.
Yet when Nemeth's highly inviting centre presented the unmarked Joseph-Desire Job, who has clamoured for a starting place, with an opening the striker, who had done well to stay onside and was stretching for a true connection, poked the ball wide of the far post from six yards.
It undermined sterling defensive work from Gareth Southgate and Chris Riggott, who were succeeding in keeping the much vaunted Liedson quiet. That said, as the clock wound down, Sporting knew the odds were increasingly against Boro.
Not that Stewart Downing was pessimistic. Although his left-wing threat was largely nullified by Rogerio's assiduous attentions in the first half, the balance tilted Downing's way in the second period. Suddenly he was going outside the right-back; but no one was there to meet his crosses. Picking up on this, McClaren unleashed a third striker in Danny Graham.
To add insult to injury, Pedro Barbosa's crisp, last-minute shot beyond Schwarzer added undeserved gloss to Sporting's success.
SPORTING LISBON: Ricardo, Rogerio, Enakahire, Hugo (Douala 35 mins), Rui Jorge, Beto, Viana, Joao Moutinho, Pedro Barbosa (Carlos Martins 90 mins), Sa Pinto, Liedson (Niculae 88 mins). Subs not used: Nelson, Tello, Miguel Garcia. Booked: Niculae. Goal: P Barbosa 90.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, McMahon (Graham 68 mins), Riggott, Southgate, Queudrue, Parnaby, Zenden, Doriva (Johnson 79 mins), Downing (Wheater 90 mins), Job, Nemeth. Subs not used: Jones, Cooper, Taylor, Kennedy.
Referee: Eric Poulat (Rhone-Alpes).
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