Aston Villa crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday, losing their play-off tie against unheralded Rapid Vienna just three days after handing mighty Liverpool a humbling Premier League defeat.
In their second leg tie, played at a half-empty Villa Park, Martin O’Neill’s team were undone by striker Nikica Jelavic grabbing a crucial away goal 14 minutes from time.
A James Milner penalty and a second-half strike from John Carew had handed Villa a 2-1 aggregate lead.
PHOTO: AP
But Jelavic, who had also scored in the first leg, had the final say, making the English side rue a first-half penalty miss by Ashley Young.
O’Neill said: “We should have got through. We should have had the game out of sight before they scored and it was unfortunate.”
“They exerted some pressure at 2-0, which you would be expecting, but I thought we had a number of chances to go from 2-0 to 3-0 and that would have sealed the tie,” he said. “I am desperately disappointed that we are not through.”
PHOTO: AP
Villa’s English Premier League rivals Everton and Fulham survived testing trips to reach the group stages.
Everton drew 1-1 with Sigma Olomouc in the Czech Republic for a 5-1 aggregate win, but they had to play for more than 80 minutes with 10 men after defender Tony Hibbert was sent off for a professional foul.
The Merseysiders, 4-0 ahead from the first leg, went in front through South African international Steven Pienaar just before half-time with Pavel Sultes’ 80th-minute goal a mere consolation for the Czechs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“It was a job well done,” said Everton boss David Moyes. “I’m pleased we got through, it was important for us. I thought we got better as the game went on. They put us under pressure but we defended well enough and got a goal ourselves.”
Roy Hodgson’s Fulham made the exhausting trip to eastern Russia where they went down 1-0 to Amkar Perm for whom Martin Kushev scored in the last minute, but the Londoners still secured a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Russian side Zenit St Petersburg, last year’s UEFA Cup champions, were knocked out by Portuguese club Nacional.
The Russians had trailed 4-3 from the first leg but looked to be on course for the next stage when Fatih Tekke gave them a 34th-minute lead to level the tie on aggregate, and a key advantage in terms of away goals.
However, with just a minute left, Ruben Micael scored to put the Portuguese side through.
Former England manager Steve McClaren saw his Twente side draw 0-0 at Qarabag in Baku for a 3-1 aggregate win, while fellow Dutch contenders Ajax won 2-1 at Slovan Bratislava for a 7-1 aggregate victory.
Two of the tournament favorites cruised through.
Francesco Totti scored a hat-trick as AS Roma crushed MFK Kosice of Slovakia 7-1 for a 10-4 aggregate, while Spain’s Villarreal defeated NAC Breda of the Netherlands 6-1 for a 9-2 win over two legs.
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