Leeds 3-3 Lazio

	Dejan Stankovic shields the ball from Mark Viduka (LaurenceGriffiths/Allsport)

Sinisa Mihajlovic, the Lazio defender reviled for his racist abuse of Arsenal's Patrick Vieira, scored a brilliant injury-time free-kick to prevent Leeds moving into the last eight on the back of another win.

While Mihajlovic's strike was exceptional, the award was abominable. Lazio's Pavel Nedved fouled Alan Maybury, badly enough for the Leeds midfielder to be helped off. Inexplicably, Austrian referee Konrad Plautz gave the Romans the free-kick.

Not that it really mattered. Leeds set out knowing the trio of teams from whom their quarter-final opponent will be drawn. O'Leary's side will be segregated from Real Madrid, winners of their own group, but will face one of the other group winners - Bayern Munich, Valencia or Deportivo La Coruna.

The Italians, already eliminated, left their heavy artillery behind in Rome. Eight internationals were absent, including Angelo Peruzzi, Alessandro Nesta and Simeone Inzaghi and Argentine duo Juan Veron and Diego Simeone, while £50million of investment in the form of Marcelo Salas and Hernan Crespo sat on the bench.

Leeds responded by leaving out Rio Ferdinand, David Batty, Olivier Dacourt, Alan Smith and Nigel Martyn. Ravanelli, whose grey hair was once a familiar sight at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium, was twice caught offside in the early stages as Lazio's second-string played for their pride.

Leeds threatened on the break when Lee Bowyer's early ball was superbly controlled by Kewell and driven in one smooth movement just beyond the far post.

O'Leary's makeshift central defence of Danny Mills and Dominic Matteo showed their naivete in the 21st minute when Ravanelli brilliantly made space for himself to receive Nedved's centre. With Mills stranded in noman's land, the Italian headed low past Paul Robinson.

Leeds' response was swift and impressive. Bowyer, all hustle and bustle, scored a fine equaliser, hooking home his shot from a difficult standing position over Luca Marchegiani when Kewell headed a clearance into his path of the right-hand edge of the area.

It was Bowyer's sixth goal of the tournament, bringing him level with Barcelona's Rivaldo.

Parity lasted only a minute as Matteo clumsily bundled into Ravanelli inside the area, getting himself booked in the process, though the Italians and the Old Grey Fox in particular wanted him sent off. When their protests subsided, it was Mihajlovic who stepped forward to coolly hit the roof of the net.

Bowyer was Leeds' most threatening player and he got his head to an Ian Harte corner in the 39th minute which had plenty of pace but was directed straight at Marchegiani's midriff.

The game took another twist two minutes from half-time with another Leeds equaliser. Harte's right-wing corner was lifted to the far post where Jason Wilcox hit it full on the volley between the legs of Lucas Catroman, standing on the line at the near post.

Leeds might have taken the lead for the first time in the 56th minute when Maybury did well down the right and floated a centre perfectly for Bowyer, who this time could not make a clean contact. They finally went in front in the 62nd minute, again from a set-piece.

Harte's free-kicks are whipped in with venom and this one, from the right, was met perfectly by Mark Viduka, who supplied an unstoppable downward header. Robinson produced another wonderful save when a Mihajlovic free-kick took a deflection and appeared to be creeping inside the far post.

Leeds United (4-4-2): Robinson; Kelly, Mills, Matteo, Harte; Maybury (Batty, 90), Bowyer, Burns, Wilcox; Viduka (Hackworth, 64), Kewell. Booking: Matteo.

Lazio (3-5-2): Marchegiani; Colonnese, Couto, Castroman (Ruggio, 88), Mihajlovic; Baronio, Stankovic, Nedved, Pesaresi; Claudio Lopez (Salas, 72), Ravanelli. Bookings: Colonese, Castroman, Stankovic.