UEFA cup, fourth round second leg

Villarreal's great run in Europe continues, and they made it through to a quarter final clash with Celtic after beating Roma 3-2 on aggregate. The Italians scored early on, Emerson crashing a long shot past Reina, and Emerson and Totti combined five minutes after the restart to set up Cassano for a second. With extra time a possibility, Sonny Anderson got on the end of José Marí's cross and turn the ball wide of Pelizzoli. Roma's nerves frayed at the end, and they were left with ten men when Zebina was shown a red card with two minutes to go.

Valencia joined Villarreal in the last eight, although it took a "silver goal" from Vicente in the first half of extra time against Genclerbirligi to see them through. The Turkish side put up a good fight against the Spaniards, and Rafa Benítez was forced to bring on Mista and Vicente in the second half, both of whom had been rested at the start. In the end that was the deciding factor, Mista levelling the tie soon after coming on, and Vicente hitting the winner from a cross by a third substitute Angulo. By then Genclerbirligi were playing with ten men after Ozkan picked up a second booking. Valencia play Bordeaux in the next round.

Barcelona could not extend their good league form to the UEFA cup though, and they were knocked out by a gutsy Celtic side who prevented them from scoring in both legs. The Catalans were missing both first choice strikers Saviola and Kluivert, but they still created many chances and only a great performance by reserve keeper Marshall kept them at bay. The youngster cut out an effort from Gerard as early as the first minute, and made spectacular saves from Gabri, Luis García and Sergio García after the break.

Mallorca were also dumped unceremoniously out of the competition by a Newcastle side who scored seven goals over the two legs. Luis Aragonés gave a run out to some of his lesser used players, and they held on well until half time. But keeper Miki gifted a goal to Alan Shearer only a minute after the restart, and Bellamy and Shearer added two more later on to complete the rout. (25.03.04)