The UEFA Cup, already a distant second in stature to the Champions League, lost two of its top-name clubs on Thursday.
Former European champion Olympique Marseille was knocked out of the round of 16 by Zenit St. Petersburg, and Bulgaria's Levski Sofia eliminated Italy's Udinese.
The quarterfinal draw is today in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with the games set for March 30 and April 6. The semifinals are April 20-27, and the final is May 10 in Eindhoven.
At St. Petersburg, Russia, Zenit and Marseille drew 1-1 with the Russian club reaching its first UEFA Cup quarterfinals 2-1 on aggregate.
Alexander Kerzhakov gave Zenit the 1-0 lead in the 69th minute, and Frederic Dehu equalized five minutes later.
At Seville, Spain, Banel Nicolita scored twice and Victoras Iacob added another goal as Steaua beat Betis 3-0 to qualify on the same aggregate score after the first leg ended 0-0.
Midfielder Nicolita opened the scoring in the 54th minute by side-footing past goalkeeper Pedro Contreras from inside the penalty area.
Betis right winger Joaquin Sanchez was sent off six minutes later for lashing out with his elbow.
Iacob directed a glancing header home on an in-swinging cross from Dica in the 78th to make it 2-0.
Four minutes later, Nicolita cut in from the left before sending a low shot beyond Contreras' reach.
At Sofia, Bulgaria, Daniel Borimirov and Igor Tomasic scored in the second half and Levski Sofia rallied to beat Italy's Udinese 2-1. They drew 0-0 in the first leg.
Fernando Tissone gave Udinese a 1-0 lead in the 22nd.
At Strasbourg, France, Basel reached the quarterfinals after a 2-2 draw with Strasbourg. The Swiss club went through 4-2 on aggregate.
Brazilian striker Eduardo scored twice for Basel. Rudy Carlier and Cedric Kante scored for the French club.
At Gelsenkirchen, Schalke rallied from a 1-0 loss in the first leg to beat Palermo 3-0 and oust another Italian club.
Levan Kobiaschvili put the Germans ahead on a 44th-minute penalty, with striker Soeren Larsen scoring in the 72nd and midfielder Mimoun Azaouagh netting in the 80th.
Palermo midfielder Eugenio Corini was sent off just before halftime for deliberately handling the ball.
Schalke, which won the UEFA Cup in 1997, is the only Bundesliga team to reach quarterfinals of European competition this season.
After four seasons of failure to join the title contenders, Fulham is sliding toward relegation trouble.
Beaten 5-1 at Liverpool on Wednesday, Chris Coleman's 16th-place side hosts runaway leader Chelsea tomorrow and is nervously looking at the teams below.
Although Fulham has an eight-point advantage over 18th-place Birmingham, Steve Bruce's team has two games in hand. West Bromwich Albion, just above the relegation zone, is five points behind Fulham with one game in hand.
Fulham is owned by millionaire Harrod's boss Mohamed al Fayed, who had hoped his club would join Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool as title contenders. Instead, the London team has to beat the defending champion at Craven Cottage tomorrow to ease its relegation fears.
Coleman's team goes into the west London derby against Jose Mourinho's Blues, who are 15 points ahead in the title race and counting the games before they collect the title for the second season in a row.
Although second-place Manchester United has a game in hand, there seems little chance of Alex Ferguson's team, which goes to West Brom on Saturday, making up that gap with only 10 games to go.
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