Two-time UEFA Cup winner Parma was dumped out of the tournament Wednesday, comfortably beaten by little-known Turkish club Genclerbirligi 3-0.
Also advancing to the fourth round were 2003 finalist Celtic, 2001 winner Liverpool, three-time champion Inter Milan and AS Roma.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Parma goalkeeper Sebastien Frey was sent off in the 34th minute in the third round, second leg match in Ankara, Turkey, for tackling charging forward Souleymane Youla.
Genclerbirligi took advantage to score through Filip Daems and Ali Tandogan. Parma defender Matteo Ferrari added another with an own-goal.
Parma won the UEFA Cup in 1995 and 1999.
Others advancing were Spanish clubs Valencia, FC Barcelona, Villarreal and Mallorca, Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, French clubs Marseille, Bordeaux and Auxerre, Belgium's FC Brugge, Portugal's Benfica and England's Newcastle.
The draw for the fourth round, quarterfinals and semifinals will be made today at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Inter Milan needed the away-goals rule to get past French club Sochaux. The two sides drew 0-0 in Milan a week after a 2-2 draw in France.
While Inter thoroughly outplayed Sochaux, the draw was likely to have little impact on the squad's poor state of affairs.
Striker Christian Vieri received a red card in the 86th minute for pushing defender Maxence Flachez and will miss the next round. Inter can't play its other top striker, Adriano, in Europe because he began the season playing for Parma.
"Considering the current state of the team, this was a decent result," said coach Alberto Zaccheroni, whose club won the UEFA Cup in 1991, 1994 and 1998.
Besides Genclerbirligi, Turkish clubs didn't fare well.
Gaziantepspor lost AS Roma 2-0 in Italy. Brazilian midfielder Emerson and striker Antonio Cassano scored to help Roma to a 2-1 aggregate win.
Besiktas was defeated in Istanbul by Valencia 2-0 off a 12th-minute goal from Miguel Angel Angulo and a second-half header from Juan Sanchez. The two clubs had drawn 2-2 in Valencia last Thursday.
Galatasaray, the 2000 champion, was eliminated by Villarreal. Sonny Anderson, Roger Garcia and Juan Riquelme scored for the Spanish side for a 3-0 second-leg win and a 5-2 aggregate victory. The three British clubs advanced, however.
Celtic lost at provincial Czech club Teplice 1-0, but advanced on aggregate after last week's 2-0 first-leg win in Glasgow.
Liverpool beat Levski Sofia 4-2 in Bulgaria for a 6-2 aggregate win. Goals from Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Dietmar Hamman and Sami Hyypia sealed the win.
Newcastle beat Norwegian club Valerenga 3-1 at St. James' Park off two goals from substitute Shola Ameobi and another from captain Alan Shearer.
Valerenga's Erik Hagen had leveled the score in the 25th minute, but Newcastle rallied for a 4-2 aggregate win.
In Eindhoven, Mateja Kezman struck twice and Kevin Hofland added another as PSV downed Perugia 3-1 to advance by the same aggregate score.
Barcelona advanced by beating Brondby of Denmark 2-1, with goals from Luis Garcia and Philip Cocu.
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