Beaten 2004 finalists Olympique Marseille overcame a shocking blunder by France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez to defeat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 on Thursday and book a place in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.
Favorites AS Roma ousted Club Bruges while 2004 Champions League finalists Monaco were eliminated 2-1 on aggregate by Swiss side Basel.
Marseille needed Franck Ribery and a Tal Ben Haim own goal to turn around their tie after Barthez had handed Bolton the lead in the tie after a goalless first leg.
PHOTO: AFP
Barthez, sent off in Marseille's 2004 final defeat by Valencia, inexplicably dropped Jay-Jay Okocha's cross under no pressure to allow Greece winger Stelios Giannakopoulos to fire the Premier League side ahead midway through the first half.
"I could hardly expect a worse start to the match," Barthez said.
"But after my blunder the guys told me that I shouldn't worry. They did everything it took to win this match and to stop me feeling bad," he added.
Midfielder Ribery headed home Samir Nasri's cross in first-half injury time to haul Marseille level and Israeli defender Ben Haim touched Habib Beye's cross into his own net to book Marseille a meeting with Zenit St Petersburg.
The Russian side knocked out Norway's Rosenborg Trondheim 4-1 on aggregate.
Boro 0, VfB Stuttgart 1
Boro made it into the fourth round on away goals after losing 1-0 at home to VfB Stuttgart. Christian Tiffert scored for Stuttgart at the Riverside.
Christian Tiffert scored in the 13th minute when he took a pass from Danijel Ljuboja and beat Stuart Parnaby before steering a right-footed shot past keeper Mark Schwarzer.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink should have leveled a minute into the second half but he shot straight at goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand.
Boro's Spanish international midfielder, Gaizka Mendieta, had a shot cleared off the line by Markus Babbel with Hildebrand out of position.
Roma 2, Club Bruges 1
With captain Francesco Totti missing with a broken leg, Roma led 2-1 from the first leg and went further ahead through Alessandro Amantino in the 55th.
Veteran Belgian striker Gert Verheyen equalized five minutes later, but Cesare Bovo ensured Luciano Spalletti's team advanced to meet Middlesbrough for a place in the last eight.
Roma's only European title was the Fairs Cup in 1961.
Coach Luciano Spalletti did not start some of his best players due to Sunday's derby with city rival Lazio.
"We have been playing all season without important players and so far managed to get around," Spalletti said. "Of course things will be more difficult in the next rounds."
Serie A's in-form side could set a league record of 11 successive wins if they beat their Rome rivals.
Swede Daniel Majstorovic's second-half goal accounted for Monaco and earned Basel a tie with Racing Strasbourg. Italy striker Christian Vieri had canceled out Basel's advantage from the first leg with a penalty.
Rapid Bucharest brushed aside goal-shy Hertha Berlin 2-0 to seal a 3-0 aggregate success and a last-16 clash with Hamburg SV.
Strikers Daniel Niculae and Mugurel Buga netted for Rapid, who began in the first qualifying round back in mid-July and have scored 23 goals to date. Niculae and Buga have hit 13 of them.
Hamburg skipper Daniel van Buyten notched a first-half double in a 2-0 win over Swiss side Thun, overturning a 1-0 first-leg defeat.
Van Buyten converted Piotr Trochowski's cross inside two minutes and the combination worked again in the 33rd minute, with Belgian defender Van Buyten heading in a Trochowski corner.
Hamburg had David Jarolim sent off in the 82nd minute for handball.
Midfielder Emil Angelov, called into Bulgaria's squad for the first time this week, scored twice as Levski Sofia cruised past Slovak champions Artmedia Bratislava 2-0 (3-0 on aggregate).
The Bulgarians have yet to concede at home in the UEFA Cup this season.
A goal early in extra-time from Real Betis defender Melli broke AZ Alkmaar's hearts.
AZ, semi-finalists last season, had cancelled out their 2-0 first-leg defeat in Seville through Shota Arveladze and Kew Jaliens but Melli settled the tie from close range.
Betis's city rivals Sevilla cruised through 3-0 on aggregate thanks to a 2-0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow, extending their unbeaten home record in Europe to 25 games.
Also into the last 16 are Schalke 04, Udinese, Palermo, Lille and Steaua Bucharest.
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