A year ago, three Italian teams reached the semifinals of Europe's No. 1 competition, the Champions League.
This season, there are no Italian clubs left anywhere in Europe; not in the Champions League and not even in the second-tier UEFA Cup.
Marseille eliminated Inter Milan in Wednesday's second-leg UEFA Cup quarterfinals, beating the Italians 1-0 in Milan for a 2-0 aggregate victory. Marseille faces Newcastle in the April 22 and May 6 semifinals.
The Magpies, with headers from Alan Shearer and Gary Speed, defeated PSV Eindhoven 2-1.
One thing is certain. There will be a Spanish team in the May 19 final in Goteburg, Sweden.
Modest Villarreal added Celtic to its growing list of big-name victims, beating the Scots 2-0 on goals from Sonny Anderson and Roger Garcia to go through 3-1 on aggregate.
The victory sets up an all-Spanish semifinal against neighbor Valencia. Valencia defeated Bordeaux 2-1 to advance 4-2. Valencia, Spain's third city, is located just 50km from the town of 42,000. League-leading Valencia defeated 10th-place Villarreal earlier in league play 4-2.
"It's beautiful to have an all-Valencia semifinal," Villarreal coach Francisco "Paquito" Garcia said. "I'm a longtime Valencia fan, but that won't affect me because now I want my team [Villarreal] to win."
Playing its first season in a European competition, Villarreal has also dumped AS Roma and Galatasaray from the UEFA Cup. The Spanish side has never won a major trophy and reached the UEFA Cup by qualifying last year through the Intertoto Cup.
Valencia 2, Bordeaux 1
(Valencia advances 4-2)
At Valencia, Spain, Mauricio Pellegrino and Francisco Rufete scored second-half goals for the Spanish league leaders. Eduardo Costa scored late for Bordeaux.
The victory leaves Valencia as the clear favorite. The Spanish side lost back-to-back Champions League finals in 2000 (to Real Madrid) and 2001 (to Bayern Munich).
Villarreal 2, Celtic 0
(Villarreal advances 3-1)
At Villarreal, Spain, goals by Anderson and Garcia continued Villarreal's unexpected success in Europe. In only its fifth season in Spain's first division, the club has never won any major trophy.
Newcastle 2, PSV Eindhoven 1
(Newcastle advances 3-2)
At Newcastle, England, the Magpies capitalized on headers from Alan Shearer and Gary Speed, the two oldest players on the team.
Shearer scored in the ninth and Speed, after Mateja Kezman leveled early in the second half on a penalty, made it 2-1 in the 66th to oust the Dutch.
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