Hamburg - Premier League side Everton were knocked out of the UEFA Cup on Thursday after going down to Standard Liege 2-1 to go out 4-3 on aggregate while a draw was enough to seal Aston Villa's place in the group stages. Axel Witsel opened the scoring for the visitors at Goodison Park before Phil Jagielka levelled matters for Everton in the second half.
However, a penalty from Milan Jovanovic sealed the win for the Belgian league leaders to complete a miserable week for coach David Moyes, whose side lost to city rivals Liverpool at the weekend.
Villa entered their tie against Litex Lovech holding a comfortable 3-1 lead from the first leg and went further ahead on 27 minutes through Marlon Harewood. Wilfried Niflore equalized for Lovech from the penalty spot but Martin O'Neill easily held on to progress 4-2 on aggregate.
There was also success for struggling Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur who were held to a 1-1 draw at Wisla Krakow, but went through 3-2 on aggregate.
Tottenham went ahead through an own goal scored by Arkadiusz Glowacki on the hour. The home side then threw caution to the wind and were rewarded for their efforts seven minutes from time when Pawel Brozek levelled matters.
They then pushed forward even more in search of a second goal that would take them into extra time, but Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes pulled off a number of classy saves to deny the home side.
It was also a good night for German clubs as VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg, SV Hamburg and Schalke 04 also went through to join Hertha Berlin, who already qualified for the next round on Tuesday.
Stuttgart, who won the first leg against Cherno More Varna 2-1, looked on their way out at home as the Bulgarian side were leading 2- 0 with seven minutes to go, but Thomas Hitzlsperger levelled the tie.
In injury time Mario Gomez found an equalizer for Stuttgart to send the team through 4-3 on aggregate.
SV Hamburg, who managed no better than a goalless draw against Unirea Urziceni at home, won 2-0 in Romania on the night to advance 2-0 on aggregate.
Schalke 04 had already done all the hard-work in Cyprus in the first leg winning 4-1 against APOEL Nicosia were held to a 1-1 draw at home but went through 5-2 on aggregate.
Wolfsburg were held to a 1-1 draw at Rapid Bucharest to advance 2- 1 on aggregate.
Wolfsburg had the ideal start in Romania taking the lead in the 15th minute through Grafite, giving the home side a tough task of having to score three goals to go through.
Although Vasile Maftei equalized in the 70th minute, it was too late to allow the home side back into the game.
Borussia Dortmund pulled back a two-goal deficit against Italian side Udinese through two goals from Tamas Hajnal but ended up crashing out 4-3 on penalties.
Deportivo La Coruna needed penalties to overcome Norwegian side Brann Bergen while Sevilla eased into the group stages with a 2-0 victory to seal a 4-0 aggregate win.
Also through on the night were Sampdoria, who won 2-1 at Kaunas to advance 7-1 on aggregate, Lech Poznan, who needed extra time to dispose of Austria Vienna 5-4 on aggregate after a 4-2 victory.
