Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen cruised into the Europa League knockout stage with emphatic wins on Thursday but holders Atletico Madrid and former winners Liverpool suffered surprise defeats.
Russia’s Rubin Kazan, Olympique Lyon, Hanover 96 and Metalist Kharkiv joined Bayer and treble UEFA Cup winners Inter in sealing their progress to the last 32 with two games to spare.
Atletico Madrid’s 16-match unbeaten run came to an end at Portugal’s Academica, 2-0 winners thanks to a brace from Wilson Eduardo, while Ivorian striker Lacina Traore fired Russia’s Anzhi Makhachkala to a 1-0 win over Liverpool in Moscow.
There was also a brilliant individual performance from Napoli striker Edinson Cavani, who scored four goals as the 1989 winners twice fought back from a goal down to beat Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 4-2 and stay in the hunt.
Inter breezed past Serbian Champions Partizan Belgrade 3-1 in Serbia as Argentine forward Rodrigo Palacio came off the bench after a goalless first half and sent the Serie A side on their way with a brace.
Fredi Guarin added the third before Nemanja Tomic scored Partizan’s first goal in the competition, which came as scant consolation after they suffered a fourth successive defeat and stretched their winless streak against Italian opposition to 24 years.