footballworld

Big-spending English giants Manchester City, Liverpool and Rangers crashed out of the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday to end Britain's interest in the competition. Roberto Mancini's City side, bank-rolled from Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mansour's £500 million investment, beat Dynamo Kiev 1-0 at Eastlands but bowed out 2-1 on aggregate. At Anfield a lacklustre Liverpool eked out a goalless draw with Sporting Braga to put the plucky Portuguese side through 1-0 on aggregate. Scottish giants Rangers, the finalists of the then UEFA Cup in 2008, had been in a strong position after coming away from their first leg at PSV Eindhoven with a scoreless stalemate. But a 13th minute goal from Jermain Lens meant it was the Dutch visitors rather than Rangers whose name went into Friday's draw. Joining PSV, Dynamo and Braga in the last eight were Benfica, FC Twente, Spartak Moscow, FC Porto, Villarreal. In Manchester, City were cut to 10 men in the 37th minute after Italian Mario Balotelli was shown a straight red for a dreadful, high one-footed lunge at Goran Popov in a bad-tempered clash that also saw seven yellow cards brandished. But the home side rebounded immediately after Balotelli's rash challenge through Aleksandar Kolarov, the Serb scoring from an indirect free-kick through a congested area. Over at Anfield, Liverpool striker Andy Carroll made his first start since his £35 million move from Newcastle in January. But Kenny Dalglish's men failed to find their spark against Braga who were progressing to the last eight of a European competition for the first time in their history.

Liverpool's sorry tally of only one goal in their last five Europa run-outs ultimately cost them dear. PSV qualified when catching Rangers on the break, with Lens sliding home Balazs Dzsudzsak's cross from the left.PSG went out 3-2 to Portugual's Benfica after the two teams finished 1-1 on the night. Nicolas Gaitan bagged that all-important away goal for the Lisbon-based club in the 27th minute, an ambitious left-footed shot swerving past the static Apoula Edel in goal.PSG responded eight minutes later, Mathieu Bodmer sending in a screamer of a right-foot volley into the corner of the net, but the Portuguese side held out. In Moscow, Spartak wrapped up a comprehensive 4-0 aggregate victory over toothless Ajax, the Russians winning 3-0 on the night courtesy of goals from Dmitri Kombarov, and Brazilian duo Welliton and Alex. There was no such luck for Spartak's domestic rivals Zenit St-Petersburg, whose 2-0 defeat of Dutch side FC Twente was not enough to overhaul a first-leg 3-0 deficit. And another Russian club, CSKA Moscow, lost 2-1 at FC Porto to go out 3-1 on aggregate, while Villarreal beat Bayer Leverkusen by the same scoreline to qualify 5-3 over the two legs.

Dirk Kuyt earned Liverpool a narrow 1-0 win over Sparta Prague on Thursday, on that night when all three British clubs in action reached the last 16.Rangers, beaten finalists in 2008, needed an equaliser at the death to prevail at Sporting Lisbon, while Manchester City's expensively assembled squad eased past Greek representatives Aris.Liverpool enjoyed the lion's share of possession against the Czech side but, as in the first leg, they struggled to make their dominance count.Raul Meireles blazed over wastefully from an inviting Martin Kelly cross in the first half, while French striker David Ngog was one of several Liverpool players frustrated by Sparta goalkeeper Jaromir Blazek in the second.With extra-time beckoning, Liverpool won a corner on the left-hand side that Meireles curled into the box and Kuyt darted away from the goal-line to cushion an intelligent header into the bottom-right corner.Liverpool will now play Portugal's Sporting Braga, who overcame a 1-0 first-leg deficit with a 2-0 win at home to Lech Poznan of Poland.

A dramatic injury-time goal by American international midfielder Maurice Edu earned Rangers a 2-2 draw at Sporting Lisbon that sent the Scottish giants through on away goals.After former Rangers man Pedro Mendes had cancelled out El Hadji Diouf's opener for the visitors, an 83rd-minute header by Yannick Djalo looked to have given the Portuguese team victory.Rangers launched a desperate last attack in the 92nd minute, however, and when David Healy rolled in a low cross from the Rangers right, Edu tapped home to send the travelling fans berserk.The next stop for Walter Smith's side will be PSV Eindhoven, who won 3-1 at home to French league leaders Lille for a 5-3 aggregate success.Following a goalless first leg, City beat Aris 3-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium thanks to a first-half brace from January signing Edin Dzeko and a deflected Yaya Toure effort.Roberto Mancini's men must now tackle Dynamo Kiev, after the Ukrainian powerhouses thrashed Besiktas 4-0 to seal an embarrassingly one-sided 8-1 overall victory.

Elsewhere, Villarreal came from behind to defeat Napoli 2-1 in the tie of the round at El Madrigal.Marek Hamsik broke the deadlock in the tie in the 18th minute before quick-fire goals from strikers Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi just before half-time saw the Spanish side through.Villarreal's last-16 adversaries are Bayer Leverkusen, for whom Michael Ballack scored his first goal since his return from injury in a 2-0 win at home to Metalist Kharkiv that completed a 6-0 aggregate victory.Two-time European champions Benfica advanced with a 2-0 aggregate defeat of Stuttgart and will now face Paris Saint-Germain, who went through on away goals following a 0-0 draw at home to BATE Borisov.In the day's early kick-off, 2008 champions Zenit Saint-Petersburg secured their place in the last 16 by coming from behind to defeat Swiss side Young Boys 3-1, thereby overturning a 2-1 deficit from the away leg.Porto, champions in 2003, progressed on away goals on Wednesday despite a 1-0 loss at home to Sevilla, while CSKA Moscow secured a 2-1 aggregate win over Greek outfit PAOK on Tuesday.