Wednesday witnessed a night of cup surprises across the continent as Italian, Spanish, German and French giants were all humbled.
Serie A champions Inter and Ligue 1 champions Lyon were both beaten and Sevilla, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain all suffered shock defeats, the French side losing to third-tier amateurs in the shock of the night.
ITALY
Jose Mourinho’s Inter were dealt a damaging 3-0 defeat in their semi-final, first leg tie against Sampdoria to leave their hopes of reaching a fifth consecutive Coppa Italia final hanging in the balance.
The Nerazzurri may be top of Serie A at present but Samp brushed them aside with an impressive performance, Antonio Cassano (9) and Giampaolo Pazzini (30, 42) with the first-half goals.
If Samp can secure a place in the final then they will face either Lazio or Juventus, with the Rome side defeating Juve 2-1 in their first leg on Tuesday.
SPAIN
Barcelona survived an action-packed encounter against Real Mallorca to reach the final of the Copa del Rey, where they will face Athletic Bilbao.
Coming into Wednesday night’s second leg following a 2-0 win at Camp Nou, Barca continued their shaky recent form when going a goal down to Gonzalo Castro’s strike (45).
Martin Caceras was dismissed on 51 minutes and Barca were then let off the hook when Marti missed a subsequent penalty.
Mallorca’s hopes of beating the Primera Liga leaders were ended on 65 minutes when Josemi was dismissed for a second yellow card and Lionel Messi ensured Barca’s progession with an 81st-minute goal.
Athletic Bilbao secured the shock result of the night in Spain as they overturned a first leg deficit to beat Sevilla and reach a record 35th Copa del Rey final.
Trailing 2-1 following the first game in Andalucia, the Basque side shocked Manolo Jimenez’s men thanks to goals from Javier Martinez (4), Fernando Llorente (34) and Gaizka Toquero (37).
FRANCE
The Coupe de France witnessed a huge shock on Wednesday night as third tier Rodez defeated seven-time winners Paris Saint Germain to reach the quarter finals.
PSG, second in Ligue 1 and in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup, were humbled by the part-time opposition after extra time as Paul Le Guen’s side crashed out at the last 16 stage.
Sammy Traore (9) put the Parisians in front but Jeremy Choplin (65, 114) and Miguel Pacios (118) completed a stunning turnaround.
Reigning champions Lyon were also beaten as they fell to a 3-2 defeat at Lille. Jean Makoun (24) and Anthony Mounier (45) were on target for Les Gones but goals from Michel Bastos (22), Eden Hazard (44) and Nicolas Fauvergue (90) proved their undoing.
Monaco also ensured their progression with a 2-0 win over Ajaccio, Park Chu-young (31) and Alexandre Licata (74) with the goals, and Sedan beat Vitre 3-0 while Rennes triumphed over Lorient by the same scoreline.
GERMANY
Jurgen Klinsmann saw his Bayern Munich side defeated 4-2 by Bayer Leverkusen in a thrilling encounter that sees the home side through to the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal.
Tranquillo Barnetta (54), Arturo Vidal (61) and Patrick Helmes (70) gave Bayer a three-goal lead and following replies from Lucio (72) and Miroslav Klose (74), Bayern’s resurgence was ended by Stefan Kiessling in injury time.
Werder Bremen also surged into the semi-finals with a shock 5-2 away win over Wolfsburg, joining Martin Jol’s Hamburg in reaching the last four.
Felix Magath’s side have been tipped as dark horses to win the Bundesliga but on Wednesday night they were unable to contain Bremen as the visitors ran riot, with Brazil international Diego (3, 55pen) and on-loan Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro (71, 89) both scoring twice.
Mesut Ozil also netted for Bremen (7) while Wolfsburg temporarily equalised thanks to a brace from reputed Blackburn Rovers target Edin Dzeko (10,43).
Hamburg also progressed to the semi-finals with two goals from Mladen Petric (17, 37) securing the top flight side a 2-1 win over Wehen, who replied late on through Sandro Schwarz.
Mainz progressed with a 1-0 win over Schalke on Tuesday night.
HOLLAND
Steve McClaren’s FC Twente secured their place in the semi-finals of the KNVB Beker but required a last, last gasp goal to see off De Graafschap, with Marko Arnautovic netting in the last minute of injury time.
Joining them in the last four are Heerenveen who defeated NEC Nijmegen 3-1, while Roda JC play Volendam and AZ Alkmaar take on NAC Breda on Thursday.
Copa del Rey (semi-final, second leg):
Athletic Bilbao 3-0 (4-2 agg) Sevilla
Real Mallorca 1-1 (1-3 agg) Barcelona
Coppa Italia (semi-final, first leg):
Sampdoria 3-0 Inter
DFB Pokal (quarter final):
Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 Bayern Munich
Hamburg 2-1 Wehen
Wolfsburg 2-5 Werder Bremen
Coupe de France (last 16):
Ajaccio 0-2 Monaco
Lille 3-2 Lyon
Rennes 3-0 Lorient
Rodez 3-1 (aet) Paris Saint Germain
Sedan 3-0 Vitre
KNVB Beker (quarter final):
FC Twente 1-0 (aet) De Graafschap
Heerenveen 3-1 NEC Nijmegen