Through ... Tottenham survive an almighty scare to qualify for the Europa League quarters. Source: Olivier Morin / AP
Tottenham squeezed through to the Europa League quarter-finals thanks to the away goals rule while Chelsea got the job done against Steau Bucharest and Newcastle secured a last-gasp win over Anji.
The Serie A giants wiped out the Londoners 3-0 advantage from the first leg with goals from Antonio Cassano, Rodrigo Palacio and an own goal from William Gallas.
Inter 4 (Cassano 20, Palacio 52, Gallas 75 og, Alvarez 110) Tottenham 1 (Adebayor 96)
Tie ends 4-4, Spurs advance on away goals
Chelsea 3 (Mata 34, Terry 58, Torres 71) Steaua Bucharest 1 (Chiriches 45+1)
Chelsea win 3-2 on aggregate
Newcastle United 1 (Cisse 90+4) Anzhi Makhachkala 0
Newcastle United win 1-0 on aggregate
Fenerbahce 1 (Ucan 43) Viktoria Plzen 1 (Darida 61)
Fenerbahce win 2-1 on aggregate
Girondins Bordeaux 2 (Tidiane Diabate 74, Jardel 90+1 og) Benfica 3 (Jardel 30, Cardozo 75, 90+2)
Benfica win 4-2 on aggregate
Lazio 3 (Kozak 6, 8, 87) VfB Stuttgart 1 (Hajnal 62)
Lazio win 5-1 on aggregate
Rubin Kazan 2 (Rondon 100, Dyadun 112) Levante 0
Rubin Kazan win 2-0 on aggregate
Zenit St Petersburg 1 (Witsel 30) FC Basel 0
FC Basel win 2-1 on aggregate
But Emmanuel Adebayor scored in the 96th, only Ricardo Alvarez to give the Italians hope again in the second period of extra-time, but Andre Villas-Boas' side held on to advance through.
The match action was a thrilling advert for the often-derided competition, but the night was tarnished by racist abuse from the home fans towards Adebayor.
Inter started like a team possessed. Cassano beat Brad Friedel at the third time of asking after two earlier strikes. The 30-year-old got on the end of a Palacio cross after Jonathan cut out Kyle Naughton and headed home from six yards.
Tottenham held back the tide before the interval, but soon after the restart Cassano found Palacio with a through-ball and he curled a shot beyond Friedel to make it 2-0.
Inter's quest to find a third looked set for failure until they won a free-kick 25 yards out with 15 minutes to go. Cassano struck the wall with a powerful low effort but it squirmed through and Gallas stuck out a leg and poked the ball past an off-balance Friedel.
Adebayor hit the target, however, stabbing past Handanovic after the Inter goalkeeper spilled Mousa Dembele's shot.
The 2,000 travelling fans erupted in ecstasy, but they were back biting their finger nails again in the 110th minute when Ricardo Alvarez nodded home from Cassano's cross to make it 4-4 on aggregate.
The away goal meant Tottenham remained on course to go through, and despite late attempts from the home side Villas-Boas' team held on to enter the hat for the quarter-finals.
In London, Fernando Torres scored then missed a penalty for Chelsea as they turned around their tie against Steaua Bucharest with a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge to seal a 3-2 aggregate triumph.
Juan Mata cancelled out Steaua's 1-0 first-leg lead in the 33rd minute after a neat one-two with Ramires, only for the visitors to level things up on the stroke of half-time when Vlad Chiriches poked home from close range after a goal-line scramble.
Blues captain John Terry made it 2-2 on the night when he skipped past Steaua defender Lukas Szukala to get on the end of Eden Hazard's free-kick from 20 yards with a bullet header, then Torres sealed Chelsea's progression 20 minutes from time but could not add to his haul as he skied a penalty late on after a foul on Hazard.
At St James' Park, Papiss Cisse headed Newcastle into the quarter-finals of the Europa League with a stoppage-time winner against Anzhi Makhachkala.
The Senegal striker scored with the last touch of the game to give Newcastle a 1-0 win on aggregate and on the night at St James' Park.
The Magpies had been playing against 10 men since early in the second half when Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez was sent off but the winner looked as though it wasn't going to come.
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