Tuesday night was an extraordinary one for Irish football. Dundalk are now within touching distance of the Champions League group stages and it's not unrealistic to think that they could get there.
Beating BATE Borisov was a huge achievement. Just how much so, we've put into context below.
BATE Borisov's Champions League record
The Belarussian champions - for the last ten seasons - are a team with a strong Champions League pedigree. Though they have never progressed beyond the group stage, they have qualified for that round an impressive five times in the previous eight seasons.
Four years ago came their most famous night in European football's premier competition when they beat Bayern Munich 3-1 in Minsk.
Just last season they won a credible five points in a group featuring Barcelona, Roma and Bayer Leverkusen. They took four points off Roma with a 3-2 win at home and then a 0-0 draw in Rome.
BATE's resources
BATE have an annual turnover somewhere in the region of €40 million - a figure which dwarfs that of the Irish champions. They also have a wealthy owner - Anatoli Kapski. Kapski is one of the owners of the Borisov tractor electrics factory from which the club was formed.
In contrast to this, in 2014, Dundalk filed accounts which showed accumulated profits of €26,323.
Of course, those Dundalk accounts will receive a massive boost with their progression to the Champions League play-off round. They are guaranteed €5.4 million.
The differing coefficients of BATE and Dundalk
Going into this year's Champions League qualification games, BATE had a coefficient of 34.oo - placing them at 64 in the rankings - Real Madrid are at number one on 175.142.
It's a mark of the gap between BATE and Dundalk - in terms of recent Champions League success - that the Lillywhites were ranked 359 with a coefficient of 2.59.
Experience
Among BATE's squad was an instantly familiar name - Alex Hleb. The former Arsenal and Barcelona player, after coming on as a substitute, helped unlock the Dundalk defence in the first leg.
Hleb is a Champions League and La Liga winner.
BATE's starting XI, plus the three substitutes who entered the game have to their name over 230 international caps. Last night, Dundalk had no players with senior international caps.
