Cup of woe for miserable Italians

It doesn’t get much worse than this for the big-spending Italians, who lost Udinese on Tuesday following an away-goals defeat by Czech league leaders Slavia Prague and who may now reflect that the hegemony of Serie A is in mortal danger if not dead and buried.

Vigo, struggling to keep pace with the top five in Spain after a good start, caught Juve cold with a goal inside 30 seconds from Frenchman Claude Makelele.

Juve’s night would get far worse and by half-time they were two goals and two men down.

Without inspirational leader Zinedine Zidane, not fully fit and left on the bench until late on, Juve, with just one league defeat all season, were rudderless.

In the 26th, Antonio Conte received a second yellow card for a crude tackle and five minutes later Alessandro Birindelli, facing his own keeper two metres out, bundled the ball into his own net following a corner.

Seconds before the interval, Juve, three times UEFA Cup winners, had Paulo Montero ordered off for appearing to strike out at Valery Karpin.

In the second half, Juve’s Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar made two howlers to gift two close range goals to South African Benny McCarthy and hand Juventus their second worst loss in their illustrious European history.

The club’s worst defeat ever came in 1958 when the Italians lost 7-0 to Austrian club Vienna SK in only their second ever European game.

Vigo next face Lens of france, who prevented an all-Spanish match-up by knocking out Atletico Madrid 4-2 on the night, 6-4 on aggregate, aided by two headers from Pascal Nouma.

Leeds killed off Roma when Kewell struck a thunderous shot which keeper Francesco Antonioli could only palm into the roof of the net to take David 0’Leary’s men through to the last eight and set up a two-leg encounter against Slavia Prague.

Bremen bundled Parma out despite losing the opening leg 1-0 with goals from Christophe Dabrowski, Marco Bode and an own goal from Fabio Cannavaro with Mario Stanic heading a consolation.

It was a far cry from Parma’s 3-0 blasting of Marseille in last season’s final.

Bremen next face England’s Arsenal, the bookies’ new favourites after the Gunners saw off Spanish league leaders Deportivo la Coruna 6-3 on aggregate, despite losing 2-1 in Spain.

Thierry Henry put Arsenal ahead midway through the second half, with substitute Sanchez Victor levelling and another sub, Ivan Perez, snatching the winner for a hollow victory on the whistle.

Despite Vigo’s heroics, it was a mixed day for Spain, given Deportivo’s exit and that of Atletico.

Real Mallorca did go through and will now play Turkish outfit Galatasaray, who knocked out former European champions Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on aggregate after a goalless draw in Istanbul.

Mallorca had already done their hardwork in beating French champions-elect Monaco 4-1 in the home-leg and only Marco Simone’s 33rd-minute goal gave the French any cheer as they won 1-0 on the night.