UEFA Cup: Benitez cannot explain defeat

Valencia coach Rafael Benitez was at a loss to explain how his side had slipped out of the UEFA Cup after dominating their quarter-final second leg against Inter Milan last night.

The Spanish side lost 1-0 to a second-minute Nicola Ventola goal to go out 2-1 on aggregate but were repeatedly denied by the heroics of Inter keeper Francisco Toldo before his late sending off for time wasting.

‘‘It would be impossible for a team to do more than we did. All you can do when you do so much with so little luck is curse your ill fortune,’’ said Benitez after the game.

‘‘When we played Celtic we had 41 shots. We can’t have been far off that today. We moved the ball and we got our shots in but the rebounds never fell for us.’’

Inter coach Hector Cuper admitted his side had enjoyed the rub of the green but was reluctant to put their win down to luck alone.

‘‘I’m pleased with the result. We had fortune and mixed it with resilience,’’ he said.

AC Milan avoided becoming the latest victim of giantkillers Hapoel Tel Aviv to overturn a first-leg deficit and book their place in the semi-finals.

The Italians, trailing 1-0 after the ‘away’ leg in neutral Nicosia, levelled aggregate matters after only five minutes through a Rui Costa free-kick.

On the stroke of half-time, they went ahead for the first time in the tie when Hapoel’s Shimon Gershon headed a curling centre from the Portuguese international into his own net to clinch a 2-0 win on the night.

Feyenoord edged the all-Dutch clash against PSV Eindhoven on penalties with Pierre van Hooijdonk the Rotterdammers’ hero and Mark van Bommel the visitors’ villain.

The Dutch international striker took the game into extra time with a 90th-minute equaliser to ensure both legs finished 1-1.

Van Hooijdonk then hit the winning penalty after Georgi Gakhokidze had missed for PSV.

Van Bommel had put PSV ahead with the 75th-minute opener before he was dismissed four minutes into extra time after picking up a second yellow card.

Borussia Dortmund avoided a potential upset by beating Slovan Liberec 4-0 at the Westfalenstadion following a goalless first leg.

Strike-partners Marcio Amoroso and Jan Koller put Dortmund ahead with two goals within five minutes of each other at the start of the second half.

The Germans added further goals from Lars Ricken and Ewerthon to overcome the Czechs, who had accounted for Real Mallorca, Celta Vigo and Lyon in previous rounds.