Falcao strike in vain as holders Atletico go out

Radamel Falcao’s 25th goal of the season was in vain as holders Atletico Madrid were ousted from the Europa League yesterday while a last-gasp goal by Moussa Dembele set Tottenham Hotspur up for a clash with Inter.

Atletico slumped to a shock 2-0 home defeat by Rubin Kazan in Madrid last week and were bundled out 2-1 on aggregate even though Falcao’s 84th-minute strike earned them a 1-0 win in the return match in Russia.

“If we had scored earlier we would have given ourselves more of a chance but even then we still had opportunities to get a second goal,” Colombia striker Falcao told said.

“We just didn’t have the luck.”

Coach Diego Simeone left a host of his regular starters back in Spain for the last-32 second leg tie at a near-empty Luzhniki Stadium in freezing Moscow, suggesting Atletico were focusing more on maintaining second spot in La Liga.

The only blot on the night for Rubin was the straight red card given to captain Cesar Navas in the 89th minute of a match watched by a crowd of less than 10,000.

Rubin will meet another Spanish club, Levante, in the last 16. The Valencia-based side beat Oly-mpiakos 1-0 in Greece to complete a 4-0 aggregate win.

Spurs, winners of the trophy in 1972 and 1984, looked to be heading out on away goals against Olympique Lyon until Dembele struck with a venomous left-foot drive in the 90th minute to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate triumph.

Maxime Gonalons had put Lyon 1-0 up in the second leg with a deft close-range header following a free kick out on the left from Clement Grenier.

Spurs now play Inter in a mouth-watering rematch of their 2010 Champions League group stage tie.

Fredy Guarin scored twice and Marco Benassi was also on target as Inter won 3-0 at Cluj to breeze past the Romanians 5-0 on aggregate.

Fellow Italians Lazio also went through after first-half goals from Antonio Candreva and Alvaro Gonzalez secured a 2-0 win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach and a 5-3 victory on aggregate.

Lazio next play VfB Stuttgart after the Germans triumphed 2-0 at Racing Genk to knock out the Belgians 3-1 overall.

A 64th-minute penalty by Shola Ameobi gave Newcastle a 1-0 win at Metalist Kharkiv following a goalless first leg against the Ukrainians last week.

Ameobi struck after an appalling mix-up in the Metalist defence when Papa Gueye failed to find Oleksandr Goryainov with a back pass and the keeper dived in with his feet to bring down Moussa Sissoko in the box.

Hazard to the rescue

Chelsea battled their way into the next round as it had to be a last-gasp goal from substitute Eden Hazard to earn them a 1-1 home draw against Sparta Prague to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

At Anfield, a Jamie Carragher error ultimately proved costly as Liverpool were edged out despite a fine comeback 3-1 win against Zenit St Petersburg.

The veteran defender gifted Zenit’s star forward Hulk a goal that gave the Russians a 3-0 aggregate lead early in the second leg of the last-32 tie.

Liverpool responded as top scorer Luis Suarez fired in two free-kicks and Joe Allen struck from close range but Hulk’s vital away goal prevented another memorable Anfield fightback.

Viktoria Plzen defeated Napoli for the second time in a week to book their place in the last 16.

Plzen raised eyebrows all over Europe as they cantered to a 3-0 win in Naples last week and completed a professional performance over two legs with an impressive 2-0 victory on home soil to set up a meeting with Fenerbahce.

Second-half goals by Jan Kovarik and Stanislav Tecl proved the difference as sorry Napoli fell well short in their bid to become the first team in this competition to overturn a three-goal first-leg deficit.