Borussia Dortmund and Feyenoord, who contested the 2002 UEFA Cup final, were dumped out of this season's competition at the second-round stage on Thursday.
On a bad night for German clubs, Schalke also exited on penalties to end Bundesliga interest in the UEFA Cup, though Bayern Munich could still end up in the competition if they finish third in their Champions League group.
PHOTO: AFP
Dortmund, Champions League winners in 1997, were humiliated by French club Sochaux, going down 4-0 for a 6-2 aggregate defeat.
Their cause was not helped when Salvatore Gambino was dismissed after five minutes for hauling down Santos in the area and Pierre-Alain Frau converted the penalty.
Second-half goals from Santos, Wilson Oruma and Jeremy Mathieu completed a miserable night for the Bundesliga club.
Schalke, the 1997 UEFA Cup winners, were protecting a 2-1 lead against Danish side Brondby but fell behind after 15 minutes when Andreas Jakobsson scored from the penalty spot.
Victor Agali equalized after the break but a Mattias Jonson goal in the 70th minute took the game into extra time before a penalty shootout sealed Schalke's fate.
Dutch club Feyenoord, who won the competition in 2002 and 1974, were humbled by Czech outsiders Teplice. Despite gaining a 1-1 away draw, the damage had been done in a 2-0 defeat in Rotterdam two weeks ago.
Liverpool and Newcastle United maintained English interest in the third round after 1-0 home victories over Steaua Bucharest and FC Basel respectively, but Manchester City were knocked out on away goals following a 0-0 draw in Poland against Groclin Grodzisk.
Spanish clubs fared well with Barcelona, Real Mallorca and Villarreal all progressing.
Barcelona's 2-0 home victory over Panionios completed a 5-0 aggregate win, Mallorca advanced despite being held 1-1 by FC Copenhagen, and Villarreal scraped through despite a 1-0 defeat at Torpedo Moscow.
Serie A club Parma bounced back from a weekend defeat by lowly Empoli to thrash Salzburg 5-0 and complete a 9-0 aggregate victory, Benito Carbone scoring twice.
AS Roma were pushed harder, however, needing a late goal from Antonio Cassano to knock out Croatian side Hajduk Split.
Red Star Belgrade, the 1991 European Cup winners, were eliminated by Norwegian champions Rosenborg Trondheim, losing 1-0 in front of a stunned 53,000 crowd.
Russians Spartak Moscow also suffered a shock 3-1 defeat at Dinamo Bucharest, but went through 5-3 on aggregate.
After Turkey's elimination from Euro 2004 qualifying, Gaziantepspor and Genclerbirligi restored pride with impressive away victories.
Gaziantepspor won 3-1 in Lens for a 6-1 aggregate win over the French club, while Genclerbirligi beat Sporting Lisbon with a 3-0 victory.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later