Italian sides had mixed success with two out of the four -- Inter Milan and AS Roma -- going through while bidding farewell to Perugia and Parma, the French will have three representatives in the next round with only Sochaux bowing out despite a brave 0-0 draw with Inter.

Turkish sides though suffered a night from hell as just one of their teams the ever surprising Genclerbirligi progressing at the expense of Parma while supposedly bigger and better Besiktas and Galatasaray crashed out.

Liverpool eased the pressure further on manager Gerard Houllier and gave him something to smile about after receiving a death threat by seeing off Levski Sofia 4-2, 6-2 on aggregate, while former England captain Alan Shearer helped Newcastle to a 3-1 defeat of Norwegian side Valerenga, 4-2 on aggregate, a week after being left out of the team.

Last year's finalists Celtic rounded off the bonanza night for Britain despite a 1-0 defeat by Czech outfit Teplice, though an injury to Chris Sutton may prove costlier with the Englishman unlikely to make this weekend's Scottish Cup clash with bitter rivals Rangers.

Valencia were the star turn for Spain as they went to the intimidating cauldron of Besiktas in Istanbul and came away with a a 2-0 victory overturning the 3-2 deficit from the first leg.

Barcelona, Villarreal and Real Mallorca joined them in the fourth round with veteran Brazilian marksman Sonny Anderson among the goalscorers for the former in their 3-0 win over Galatasaray while the latter progresssed despite losing 1-0 to Spartak Moscow having done the hard work by winning 3-0 away from home last week.

Barcelona beat Danish side Brondby 2-1 on the night.

Liverpool did well to pull away after seeing a 2-0 lead -- with goals by Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen -- evaporate into 2-2 after Georgi Ivanov and Sasha Simonovich had scored for the hosts on what was a national holiday to celebrate the 126th anniversary of Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottoman Empire.

However headers from German international Dietmar Hamann with his first goal in European competition for Liverpool and Finnish skipper Sami Hyppia ensured they progressed.

Victory maintained Liverpool's proud record under Houllier in away legs in the UEFA Cup having last lost to Spanish side Celta Vigo five years and four months ago on the Frenchman's first match in sole charge following the departure of co-manager Roy Evans.

Houllier was a happy man afterwards ending a dreadful period for him where a series of poor results provoked someone to send him a death threat in the post.

"The early goals were a great help, though their defence were generous," Houllier said.

He was particularly pleased for Owen, whose only reason to be cheerful of late was his engagement to his girlfriend as he had hit the back of the net just twice in his last 11 matches.

"I was pleased for Michael.

"He is on a run to break a European record and I thought he looked sharp.

"What I especially enjoyed was how hard he worked for the team.

"He's not only a star player but a team one as well."

Despite Newcastle going through their manager Bobby Robson was not a happy man.

"We were awful in the first half and the game was in the melting pot," Robson admitted. "We knew we had to play in the second half to go through and there was a dramatic improvement.

"We had better cohesion and a better attitude and we're happy to be through."

By contrast Inter Milan's embattled coach Alberto Zaccheroni was relieved that a dreadful league season could yet still be rescued by success in the UEFA Cup - achieved despite the sending-off of Italian international Christian Vieri in the 86th minute.

"The players have kept calm in the last few days (since a 3-1 home defeat by Brescia).

"I didn't think we could pick ourselves off the ground so soon after such a defeat but I think that with the 2-2 draw away from home last week it gave the team something to hold onto and they emerged with credit," he said.

Zaccheroni will be hoping for more of the same next time but with the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona, Roma and Valencia in the next round as possible adversaries Inter will need something special to really rescue their season.