Valencia's exit increases the pressure on Ranieri

Former European champions Steaua Bucharest stunned Uefa Cup holders Valencia by dumping the Spanish champions out of the competition in a penalty shootout last night.

Valencia coach Claudio Ranieri could find himself out of a job today after the club said they would hold a board meeting to discuss his future.

Apart from Parma's impressive 2-0 victory in Germany over VfB Stuttgart to send the Italians through, it was a bad night for former winners, with Schalke 04, Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord all going out.

Sporting Lisbon had their victory over Feyenoord overshadowed by crowd disturbances in Rotterdam which twice halted the match. Uefa sanctions are likely to be imposed on the Dutch club after Sporting goalkeeper Ricardo was hit by a firework. Sporting won 2-1 to go through 4-2 on aggregate.