That's it for Anderlecht, Hamburg have made it 2-2

As a Fulham fan who went to Turin last week, all I can say is that I am gob smacked.
I thought we might win 1-0 or 2-1 as the Juve defence looked leaky but 4-1 ....phew.

3-2 Anderlecht now

and now 4-2!!

I just got in and saw the final result. This is...a dark day indeed. I was distraught when Arsenal knocked us out of the CL some years back...then Liverpool, then Chelsea...now...good lord. No disrespect to Fulham, I'm delighted it was them who dumped us out.

Tuttosport are letting the Old Lady have it with both barrels, calling for a complete clear out all the way to the board (under a YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED! headline in 36 point type).

Final score Anderlecht-Hamburg 4-3. Some match but I watched Liverpool instead...

I'd be glad to see Alessio Secco on his way out, though his iffy signings do not excuse the failures on the part of every other part of the team...

Andy Townsend (paraphrased): "SERVES THOSE CHEATING ITALIANS RIGHT!"

Why does this man have a job?

Well, if you read back the thread (and think of it as those particular cheating Italians) . . .

Wolfsburg win it in the last minute of extra time, just as Rubin thought they were taking it to penalties.

The last eight:

Fulham, Liverpool, HSV, Wolfsburg, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Benfica, and Standard Liege.

The concept that all Italian players are cheats is sadly endemic amongst British football punditry. When Steven Gerrard obviously dives, it recieves a sheepish chuckle from Jim Beglin.

Well done Fulham.

I have to say I enjoyed watching that.

Yeah, I know.

And the majority of Juve's starting XI wasn't even Italian.

Kudos to Benfica - great display in Marseilles. Well deserved win. In the end, the referee could do no more to stop it or it would have been the biggest scandal of this and the last century.

For the co-efficient freaks, remember that each individual result counts, so Bremen's equaliser against Valencia helps even though it didn't make any difference to their qualifying. I guess Wolfsburg's win counts the same even though it came in ET.

Kassies has already updated his table.

I think that Wolfsburg and Rubin each get credit for a draw.

Et tu, Bobby?

While not a club I have warmed to over my many years, Hodgson's obviously fashioned a very good team there and much too good for Juve tonight. Mind, the first 35 mins last week and the first 15-20 tonight was as good as I have seen Juve play in terms of passing and moving for what seems like an eternity.

While Cannavaro might seem harshly sent off given the laws, there is little doubt in my mind he has no intention of doing anything but haul the guy down, so bugger him.

Always pleased for the Great Bobby Z of course.

Still, at least the clear out should be deeper and cleaner, as anyone can see this Juve is a team without real quality, character or substance. It would be good to think Secco, Blanc would realise they are out of their depth and go but unlikely I guess with the stadium on the way etc.

Personally, I'd only keep Candreva and Diego (and at a sizeable push Sissoko) around of the ones that played tonight. The others are either not good enough, too old or have too many scars/in and out with injury all the time.

LaVecchiaSmoggie: I imagine Townsend and the OTFers with the hard on for Juve's collapse tonight are thinking about the triade years?

It's nice to know that Chelsea supporters can just pop down the road if they want to see a team still in Europe after the clocks go back.

Still everything to play for in the Italy-Germany battle. Portugal could still climb a place or two if Benfica continue to progress. Belgium overtake Denmark.

The Italy-Germany battle is fascinating, but even if Inter can somehow scrape the points together to hold off the challenge this year, the year after seems doomed for Serie A, as they'll lose a huge points advantage over the Bundesliga.

It's fun to be able to support an English club in Europe. It's 2006 all over again...