On Thursday, the remaining UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg matches were played at the stadiums of the Old Continent.
Dirk Kuyt's goal with a header after a corner kick in the 86th minute at Anfield Stadium opened the doors for Liverpool club to the next stage of the tournament, as the match in Prague against Sparta ended in a goalless draw last week.
'The Reds' will face Braga in the quarterfinals, who avenged the defeat of their Polish neighbors Lech Poznan by winning 2-0, with a minimal 1-0 margin at home.
In the next stage, we will also see the wealthy Man City club - in front of their own fans, the English team achieved a victory with a solid lead of 3-0 and eliminated David Česnauskis's Aris Saloniki team from further contention for the trophy. The Lithuanian was not registered for the match.
Of the three Russian teams, two crossed the round of 16 barrier - only Kazan Rubin's footballers failed, as Enschede's Twente team blocked their path.
The intriguing duel between Spain and Italy (Villarreal - Napoli) ended in a victory for the team from the country that triumphed in the World Cup.
The quarterfinal stage of the UEFA Europa League will begin on March 10.
Results:
Zenit St. Petersburg 3 - 1 Young Boys Bern (first leg 1 - 2, aggregate score 4 - 3) 21' [0 - 1] A. Jemal 41' [1 - 1] D. Lazovic 52' [2 - 1] S. Semak 76' [3 - 1] R. Shirokov
Bayer Leverkusen 2 - 0 Metalist Kharkiv (first leg 4 - 0, aggregate score 6 - 0) 47' [1 - 0] S. Rolfes 70' [2 - 0] M. Ballack
Liverpool 1 - 0 Sparta Prague (first leg 0 - 0, aggregate score 1 - 0) 86' [1 - 0] D. Kuyt
PSV Eindhoven 3 - 1 Lille (first leg 2 - 2, aggregate score 5 - 3) 22' [0 - 1] P.A. Frau 55' [1 - 1] B. Dzsudzsak 67' [2 - 1] J. Lens 73' [3 - 1] Marcelo 62' P.A. Frau (PSV) sent off from the field
Spartak Moscow 1 - 1 Basel (first leg 3 - 2, aggregate score 4 - 3) 15' [0 - 1] S. Chipperfield 90' [1 - 1] A. McGeady
Sporting Lisbon 2 - 2 Glasgow Rangers (first leg 1 - 1, aggregate score 3 - 3) 20' [0 - 1] E.H. Diouf 42' [1 - 1] P. Mendes 83' [2 - 1] Y. Djalo 90' [2 - 2] M. Edu
Ajax Amsterdam 2 - 0 Anderlecht Brussels (first leg 3 - 0, aggregate score 5 - 0) 11' [1 - 0] M. Sulejmani 17' [2 - 0] M. Sulejmani
Braga 2 - 0 Lech Poznan (first leg 0 - 1, aggregate score 2 - 1) 8' [1 - 0] Alan 36' [2 - 0] Lima 87' M. Kikut (Lech) sent off from the field
Dynamo Kiev 4 - 0 Besiktas Istanbul (first leg 4 - 1, aggregate score 8 - 1) 3'l [1 - 0] O. Vukojevic 55' [2 - 0] A. Yarmolenko 64' [3 - 0] O. Gusev 74' [4 - 0] A. Shevchenko
Twente Enschede 2 - 2 Rubin Kazan (first leg 2 - 0, aggregate score 4 - 2) 22' [0 - 1] C.D. Ansaldi 24' [0 - 2] C. Noboa 45' [1 - 2] T. Janssen 47' [2 - 2] Douglas
Manchester City 3 - 0 Aris Thessaloniki (first leg 0 - 0, aggregate score 3 - 0) 7' [1 - 0] E. Dzeko 12' [2 - 0] E. Dzeko 75' [3 - 0] Y. Toure
PSG 0 - 0 BATE Borisov (first leg 2 - 2, aggregate score 2 - 2)
Stuttgart 0 - 2 Benfica Lisbon (first leg 1 - 2, aggregate score 1 - 4) 31' [0 - 1] E. Salvio 78' [0 - 2] O. Cardozo 90' Z. Kuzmanovic (Stuttgart) sent off from the field
Villarreal 2 - 1 Napoli (first leg 0 - 0, aggregate score 2 - 1) 17' [0 - 1] M. Hamsik 43' [1 - 1] Nilmar 45' [2 - 1] G. Rossi
Quarterfinal matchups:
Benfica Lisbon - PSG
Dynamo Kiev - Manchester City
Twente Enschede - Zenit St. Petersburg
CSKA Moscow - Porto
PSV Eindhoven - Glasgow Rangers
Bayer Leverkusen - Villarreal
Ajax Amsterdam - Spartak Moscow
Liverpool - Braga