The day... Octotber 9, 1992 The event... Leeds United face a play-off against Stuttgart at the Nou Camp What happened? In 1992 UEFA introduced a new European competition - the Champions League - for league winners across the continent. Leeds United entered the tournament as First Division champions, and were in the European Cup for the first time since the club's controversial 1975 final defeat to Bayern Munich in Paris. United were drawn against German title winners Stuttgart in a two-legged affair in the opening round. The first clash was hosted at the Neckarstadion with Howard Wilkinson's men losing 3-0 after three quickfire goals in the second half. Leeds, though, battled back at Elland Road to claim a 4-1 victory, but were undone by the away goals rule - or so they thought. It emerged in the days afterwards that the visitors had broken a UEFA rule by fielding a fourth foreign player, with rules stating only three could be used. Jovo Simanic had been the guilty party after he was introduced with 8 minutes remaining in LS11. After an investigation, UEFA ordered a 3-0 win for Leeds in the return leg and organised a play-off at a neutral venue to decide the winners. The two sides travelled to the Nou Camp with just 10,000 of the 120,000-capacity stadium filled. Leeds fans - despite being put in one of the upper tier sections - made their presence felt as they cheered on the Whites to victory in Spain. The game was deadlocked at 1-1 with extra-time looming with 15 minutes to go. Carl Shutt, though, was introduced from the bench to replace Eric Cantona and scored within seconds to send the travelling contingent wild. "It was a great night," he said afterwards. "There weren't many fans but they made a lot of noise and it was great to reward them." Leeds' 2-1 win set up a 'Battle of Britain' tie with Rangers in the second round.
