At the end of a ludicrous, wonderful, exhilarating game, it was Manchester City who sashayed off the pitch elated, coming from 3-2 down to storm home 5-3; it will take an almighty home effort from Monaco to prevent them reaching the last eight.
Both sides began the match well, swapping incisive attacks before lovely play from Leroy Sane led to Raheem Sterling putting City ahead on 26 minutes. But Monaco were level seven minutes later, Radamel Falcao sending a diving header past Willy Caballero after a superb cross from Fabinho.
And shortly before half-time, Monaco went further ahead, Kylian Mbappe's brilliant finish soaring into the roof of the net, after Sergio Aguero had been denied a penalty.
City came out to attack in the second half, but when Nicolas Otamendi was caught out - not for the first time - and gave away a penalty, they looked almost out of the tie. But Falcao's poor effort was quickly compounded when Sergio Aguero's shot went through Danijel Subasic at the near post.
It seemed not to matter all that much when Falcao bullied John Stones on the edge of the box and caressed a delicious chip over Caballero and into the net, but as Monaco tired and collapsed Ageuro volleyed home from a corner on 71 minutes, Stones slid in on 77, and Sane benefitted from a typically lithe link-up between David Silva and Aguero.
So a glorious evening ended with a definitive winner, and a definitive favourite, but with two such potent attacks and two suck miserable defences, it's impossible to predict the second leg with any conviction, other than to say that only a fool will miss it.
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