Well, then. This, and (perhaps worse still) this can only be explained by the power of Italian President, ultra-capitalist media baron and unconvicted criminal Silvio Berlusconi.

I consider myself a neutral football supporter, with no ties to any specific club or even to my national team, and once football fans around me have recovered from that culture shock they respect my relatively neutral approach. The AC Milan-Lyon match several months ago shook all that neutrality to the core; I cheered Lyon to the rafters despite having no connection to them other than that they represented NotBerlusconi for the night, and the two desperately late goals that eliminated Lyon were as upsetting to me as France's two late goals against England were to most Englishmen. Indeed, I believe I cried.

If AC Milan appear in Europe's greatest club competition, I am quite prepared to boycott it. Because that would be an open admission that cheating pays and money talks, never mind ethics and fair play.

Football is corrupt enough as it is without collusion from those supposed to stop it.