Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor celebrates after scoring the goal that put Spurs into the Europa League quarter-finals. Source: AFP
TOTTENHAM suffered a fright before sneaking past Inter Milan to reach the Europa League quarter-finals and restore some national pride following England's Champions League misery.
With Manchester United and Arsenal beaten at the last 16 stage of Europe's premier club competition, it was left to the Europa League participants to maintain English interest in European football this season.
Fernando Torres struck the winner as Chelsea then joined their London rivals in the last eight after eliminating Steaua Bucharest, while Papiss Cisse scored with the last touch of the match, a header, to send Newcastle through as well.
Spurs lost 4-1, but went through on away goals thanks to last week's 3-0 success at White Hart Lane.
"The players have been magnificent to get us into the quarter finals," Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas said.
"Inter were motivated today. They came out and did what they had to."
Without the suspended Gareth Bale, Spurs made hard work of progressing and needed extra time to do so after trailing 3-0 when the 90 minutes were up.
Inter played like a team that had nothing to lose and their lively front pairing of Antonio Cassano and Rodrigo Palacio caused Spurs trouble from the off.
It was little surprise when they took the lead as Palacio ran onto a clever pass from full-back Jonathan that dissected Spurs' defence, before crossing for Cassano to plant a downward header beyond Brad Friedel.
Spurs knew an away goal was all that was needed to break the home side's spirits but they proved wasteful with the chances that came their way as Inter left gaps at the back in their eagerness to attack.
Togo forward Emmanuel Adebayor should have killed the tie right at the end of the opening half following a mistake from Juan, only to chip both Samir Handanovic and the bar.
And after Spurs wasted another glorious chance at the start of the second period, Palacio ran beyond the backline onto Esteban Cambiasso's through ball before calmly beating Friedel.
Inter Milan's Riccardo Alvarez heads into the open net to score in his team's Europa League round of 16 second-leg match against Tottenham. Source: AFP
With just a quarter of an hour remaining, Cassano's weak and seemingly innocuous free-kick took a couple of deflections, the last off William Gallas's thigh, before trickling into the net.
Cambiasso almost won it for Inter in stoppage time but dragged his shot when clean through inches wide of the far post.
But Inter soon cracked in the extra period as Handanovic couldn't hold Mousa Dembele's stinging strike and Adebayor beat veterans Javier Zanetti and Cristian Chivu to the rebound to poke home the crucial away goal.
Ricardo Alvarez headed in a fourth for Inter from Cassano's cross 10 minutes from time to ensure a thrilling tie kept everyone on tenterhooks right to the death.
Basel held on for an entire half with a one-man disadvantage to edge out Zenit St Petersburg 2-1 on aggregate after a defeat in Moscow.
There was better news for another Russian side, though, as Rubin Kazan beat Spaniards Levante 2-0 to progress by the same score on aggregate.
Chelsea also made hard work of their qualification despite a positive start in which Juan Mata gave them the lead.
They had lost the first leg in Romania 1-0 and when Vlad Chiriches scored a crucial away goal on the stroke of halftime, Chelsea needed two more goals to go through.
Captain John Terry led the way by restoring their advantage on the night before Torres snatched the vital third, although he then missed a penalty which would have calmed the home nerves.
Newcastle and Anzhi Makhachkala played 180 minutes without scoring a goal but deep into injury time Senegal forward Cisse headed home a Sylvan Marveaux cross to send the English team through.
Also advancing to the Europa quarters were Lazio, Benfica, Fenerbahce, Rubin Kazan and Basel.
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