LONDON - Former European soccer champions Steaua Bucharest stunned UEFA Cup holders Valencia by dumping the Spanish champions out of the competition in a penalty shootout today.
Steaua, trailing 0-2 from the first leg in Spain, levelled the first knockout round tie with two second-half goals from midfielder Andrei Cristea,
restored to the starting line-up by Italian coach Walter Zenga at the behest of the club's main shareholder Gigi Becali.
Extra-time yielded no further goals and in the shootout a miss by Marco Di Vaio handed the Romanians a 4-3 spot-kick win to pile the pressure further on beleaguered coach Claudio Ranieri.
Valencia have slumped to sixth in the Primera Liga and the Spanish sports press reported before the game that the Italian could find himself without a job if his team slipped up again.
Steaua will play the winners of the Villarreal-Dynamo Kiev tie, being played later on Thursday, in the last 16.
In another upset, Shakhtar Donetsk stunned 1997 winners Schalke 04 with a 1-0 win in Gelsenkirchen that gave the Ukraine side a 2-1 aggregate victory.
Nigerian striker Julius Aghahowa, whose goals in a 2-0 Champions League victory over Barcelona landed Shakhtar a UEFA Cup spot, thumped home a powerful drive on 21 minutes to dump the Bundesliga high-flyers out of Europe.
Shakhtar will meet AZ Alkmaar in the last 16 after the Dutch side survived a real fright at home before ending German second division side Alemannia Aachen's fairytale run.
Alkmaar, trailing to Erik Meijer's first-half strike, turned the match around with goals in the last half hour to win 2-1 on the night and the same score on aggregate.
Dutch international Barry van Galen equalised on 62 minutes with an angled shot and then, after the midfielder had struck the crossbar, he provided the flick-on from a corner that was touched in on the goalline by Joris Mathijsen for the winner 10 minutes from time. Aachen finished with 10 men after Thomas Stehle's dismissal.
Partizan Belgrade substitute Miroslav Radovic hit a late winner to secure a 1-0 win away against Ukraine's Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and send the Serbian side through 3-2 on aggregate.
Partizan had captain Sasa Ilic sent off just before halftime for deliberate use of the elbow but Radovic sealed the tie three minutes from time when he lashed home from Obiora Odita's pass.
- REUTERS
