Valencia's reign as UEFA Cup champion ended after a penalty shootout as the Spanish champion tossed away a 2-0 first-leg advantage and was ousted by Romania's Steaua Bucharest on Thursday.
Of the five Spanish teams in action, it was the only one to go out.
PHOTO: EPA
In two more surprises, struggling 10-man Parma ousted VfB Stuttgart thanks to two extra-time goals, and four-time European Cup winner Ajax Amsterdam tossed away a lead to go out 3-1 to French club Auxerre.
In Bucharest, striker Andrei Cristea canceled out Valencia's lead with two second-half strikes to make it 2-2 overall and the Romanians, who upset hot favorite FC Barcelona to win the 1986 European Cup final on penalties, moved into the last 16 after winning another shootout 4-3.
While it was gloom for Claudio Ranieri's Valencia, Real Zaragoza, Seville and Villarreal all made it to the next round.
Sevilla scored twice in the last 10 minutes through substitutes Ariza Makukula and Adriano Correia to beat Panathinaikos 2-0 for an overall 2-1 triumph, and Luciano Figueroa and Santi Cazorla netted Villerreal's goals for a 2-0 victory to oust Dynamo Kiev.
Zaragoza scored a 2-1 victory over Turkey's Fenerbahce to make it into the next round 3-1 on aggregate. Zaragoza could meet countrymen from Athletic de Bilbao, which drew 0-0 with Austria Vienna and plays the second leg at home on Sunday. The first leg was postponed because of heavy snow.
Parma kept Italian hopes alive with a 2-0 extra-time victory at VfB Stuttgart after going down to 10 men. Parma captain Paolo Cannavaro was ejected for a late tackle nine minutes from the end of regulation but Marco Marchionni and Andrea Pisanu scored extra-time goals to win 2-0 overall.
Stuttgart's loss was one of a three on a night of disaster for German clubs.
Alemannia Aachen, the second division club which qualified by finishing runner-up to Werder Bremen in the German Cup, lost 2-1 at AZ Alkmaar, and Schalke O4 went down 1-0 at home to Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk, which advanced 2-1. Germany no longer has an interest in the competition.
Ajax went to Auxerre with a 1-0 first-leg lead and appeared to be going through when it led 2-1 overall at halftime. But goals by Benoit Cheyrou and Lionel Mathis put the French team through 3-2 on aggregate.
Two English teams made it to the last 16. Newcastle, whose only European triumph was winning the Fairs Cup in 1969, beat Dutch club Heerenveen 2-1 to advance 4-2 overall, and neighbor Middlesbrough, playing in its first European competition, came from behind to beat Austria's Grazer AK 2-1.
Veteran former England captain Alan Shearer was on the mark for Newcastle with a long-range free kick while Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored Middlesbrough's winner at the Riverside.
Middlesbrough's opponent for a place in the last eight will be Sporting Lisbon, which scored a 2-1 victory at 2002 UEFA Cup winner Feyenoord to advance 4-2 overall. Brazilian forward Liedson, top scorer in the Portuguese league, netted the first for Sporting and Fabio Rochemback the second to put the game out of Feyenoord's reach.
The game in Rotterdam was marred by crowd trouble. Sporting goalkeeper Ricardo was hit by a firework and German referee Florian Meyer took the players off the field for 10 minutes after more objects were hurled by Feyenoord fans after the visitor had scored.
While Sporting advance to the next round, the other Lisbon soccer giant, Benfica, went out.
Held 1-1 at home by CSKA Moscow, Benfica lost 3-1 on aggregate and the one-time powerhouse, which reached finals against the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan and Inter Milan, hasn't won a Euro title since 1962.
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