FIVE-TIME European Cup winner Liverpool came up just short yesterday as it crashed out of soccer's Europa League on away goals at the hands of Russian outfit Zenit Saint Petersburg despite a 3-1 win at Anfield.
Two goals down from the first leg, Liverpool looked out for the count after veteran defender Jamie Carragher fluffed an attempted backpass and Brazilian Hulk slipped home the opener to make it 3-0 on aggregate for the visitors.
But Liverpool roared back with two goals from Luis Suarez, while Joe Allen netted another in between. But the extra goal would not come and Zenit reached the last 16.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was defiant, saying: "We may have lost the battle tonight but, in terms of the war and going forward, we're very much winning."
Deposed European champion Chelsea had to settle for a home draw against Sparta Prague having won the away leg 1-0 after Eden Hazard's late effort cancelled out David Lafata's opener.
Chelsea captain John Terry said: "We're delighted to go through. It wasn't our best performance but we're through and that's all that matters."
Aside from Liverpool's anguish, it was a successful night for the English contingent with a last-gasp goal from Mousa Dembele booking a last-16 berth for Tottenham, a superb strike rescuing a 3-2 aggregate win over French host Lyon after a 1-1 draw.
Spurs, who will face Inter Milan, had won the opening encounter 2-1 but trailed for much of the match to a 17th-minute goal from Maxime Gonalons before Dembele struck to save the Londoners from going out.
Newcastle thanked Shola Ameobi's third European goal of the season, a penalty, for a 1-0 win at Metalist Kharkiv, the Ukrainians who held the Magpies to a goalless stalemate on Tyneside last week.
Newcastle was under pressure for much of the match and Dutch keeper Tim Krul made several top drawer saves, before Ameobi struck on 64 minutes for a crucial away goal after keeper Olexandr Goryainov upended Moussa Sissoko. The English side will face Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala for a quarter-final spot.
Elsewhere, Russia's Rubin Kazan put out holders Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate despite Falcao giving the Spaniards the win by the only goal on the night.
Inter, European Cup winners in 2010, went through after a 3-0 romp at 10-man Romanians Cluj.
Colombian star Fredy Guarin scored a brace for Inter with Marco Benassi adding the third.
Germany's Stuttgart won 2-0 at Belgium's Genk for a 3-1 aggregate win. Arthur Boka and Christian Gentner scored for the Germans.
Italy's Lazio defeated German rival Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0 with Antonio Andreva and Alvaro Gonzalez the scorers in the first half as the Romans progressed 5-3 overall.
AFP
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