Werder Bremen and Marseille both progressed to the Uefa Cup’s quarter finals on Wednesday night.
St Etienne and Bremen both scored twice in each half, which means that the Bundesliga outfit will play the quarter finals of the last-ever Uefa Cup.
Les Verts lost the first leg 1-0 and their coach Alain Perrin hinted that he did not want to waste too much energy on this competition, with his team involved in the relegation fight this term.
The German team showed their intention straight away and took the lead in the sixth minute through Sebastian Prodl. Chelsea loanee Claudio Pizarro then made it 2-0 thanks to a superb diving header in the 27th minute.
After the interval, the home side hit back through Yohan Benalouane, who made the most of three terrible passes from the German defence to head home, and Les Verts even claimed a late equaliser, courtesy of a Sebastien Grax cross-shot.
Marseille progressed to the next round thanks to a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Ajax, with Tyrone Mears scoring his debut goal for L’OM.
The French side won the first leg 2-1 in their Stade Velodrome and were made to play extra-time in Amsterdam.
Cameroonian midfielder Eyong Enoh beat the offside trap and drilled home in the 32nd minute, but L’OM hit back straight away thanks to a Mamadou Niang goal set up by Bacary Kone.
The game was stopped during the second half, as Boudewijn Zenden was targeted by a laser, and the stadium announcer asked the home fans to stop distracting the former Holland international.
Shortly after that, the Dutch team restored their lead thanks to a Miralem Sulejmani header, with the Serbian making the most of Luis Suarez’s brilliant solo effort in the 74th minute.
Mears bagged the decisive goal of the night, with the Derby loanee heading home at the far post in the 108th minute of extra-time.