Leeds United pulled off one of the club's greatest ever results witha dramatic 1-0 Champions League victory over Italian giants AC Milan lastnight.

David O'Leary's injury-hit troops seemed to be heading for an honourablegoalless draw at rain-lashed Elland Road when they snatched victory with twominutes left.

Lee Bowyer cracked in a free-kick from 25 yards which Brazilianinternational keeper Dida allowed to spin from his grasp into the net toleave the delirious home fans singing in the rain.

It was the first piece of luck O'Leary had enjoyed for several weeks aftersuccessive defeats by Manchester City, Barcelona and Ipswich, coming on theback of a crippling injury list, had threatened to wreck United's seasonbefore it started.B

ut last night's victory put the smile back on the players' faces afterO'Leary's bold team selection paid off on a night of unremitting tension.

He handed a debut to former Liverpool man Dominic Matteo and brought backEirik Bakke even though the pair had only just returned to light trainingafter injury.They lined up in midfield as Leeds reverted to 4-4-2 after struggling tocome to terms with 4-3-3 against Ipswich three days earlier when they werebooed off the pitch.

Both were prominent in a first half edged by Leeds with the Norwegian goingclosest to breaking the deadlock when he forced Dida into a fine sprawlingsave after Matteo's surging run down the left.

Leeds, looking much more balanced and confident than in recent weeks, wentclose again after 20 minutes when Bakke's header from a Bowyer cross skimmedthe bar.Leeds certainly made most of the running for the first half hour but Milan started to pose more problems towards the interval, but Michael Duberry waskeeping a tight grip on dangerman Andriy Shevchenko.

Indeed, Duberry headed over a Bowyer corner from close range after the Italians again looked surprisingly suspect to any aerial threat at the back.

The tireless Alan Smith and Michael Bridges both worked the flanks well butsupport from midfield was less forthcoming as Leeds began to tire and Milanbegan to dominate on a surface which started to hold patches of standingwater.

Shevchenko was finally making his mark but was first denied by a brilliant Danny Mills tackle and then two excellent Nigel Martyn saves. But the Ukrainian wasted a glorious opportunity 13 minutes from the end when hecollected a miscue from Mills.

All he had to do was move forward and shoot but inexplicably passed to co-striker Oliver Bierhoff, who was yards offsideand Leeds were saved by the flag. Milan paid a high price for that miscalculation with Dida's catastrophicerror at the other end of the pitch literally handing Leeds a famousvictory.

Curiously, Milan, who have never won in England, ended the night on top of Group H as Barcelona crashed 3-0 in Turkey to Besiktas, who Leeds entertainnext Tuesday. With all three sides locked on three points after two games the group remains wide open.