LONDON -- Defending champion Inter Milan, the latest victim of the penalty shootout, was eliminated by Aston Villa in the first round of the UEFA Cup.
Inter lost the second leg 1-0 to Villa at Birmingham, England, on Thursday to tie the aggregate at 1-1. After two scoreless periods of extra time, Villa won the shootout 4-3.
"We were brilliant, quite superb," Villa manager Ron Atkinson said. "It was a phenomenal result for English football."
In the Cup Winners Cup, defending champion Arsenal rolled to a 3-0 home victory Thursday over Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus for a 6-1 aggregate triumph.
Ian Wright scored twice for the Gunners, bringing his total to 99 goals since joining the London club three years ago.
Aston Villa, motivated by a rousing 30,533 fans at Villa Park, unexpectedly dominated Inter in nearly every phase of the game after the opening minutes.
The breakthrough came four minutes before halftime when Steve Staunton played a long cross that hit defender Giuseppe Bergomi on the head before bouncing free. Ray Houghton darted in to volley the shot past goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca.
It was Houghton's first goal since he beat Pagliuca to win the opening game for Ireland against Italy at the World Cup in June.
Villa continued to control the flow, and substitute Guy Whittingham nearly won it with three minutes remaining in extra time when his chip from the right side of the box beat Pagliuca but glanced off the crossbar.
Each team converted its first three penalties in the shootout before Inter substitute David Fontalan shanked his attempt high. Whittingham, up next, failed to take advantage as his tame shot was saved by the diving Pagliuca.
Uruguayan striker Ruben Sosa then hit the underside of the bar to set up the winning kick from striker Phil King.
"I was really tired as I came up to take the penalty," said King, acquired in the off-season from Sheffield Wednesday. "I had cramp in my legs, but I just made up my mind that I was going to hit it and it went in."
The Villa upset was the only UEFA Cup game Thursday, while a full slate of games decided the 16 teams that would take part in Friday's second-round draw in the Cup Winners Cup.
Scotland was not be represented at the draw in Geneva. For the first time since the 1958-59 season, no Scottish team made it to the second round of any of the European cup competitions.
The country's last remaining representative, Dundee United in the Cup Winners Cup, took a 3-2 first-leg lead to Tatran Presov, but lost the game 3-1 to fall 5-4 on aggregate.
Vadislav Zvara scored two goals for the Slovakian team, which rallied after United had taken a 1-0 lead in the third minute on a goal by Jerren Nixon.
The Scottish casualty list this season already included six-time league champion Rangers, beaten by AEK Athens last month in the preliminary round of the Champions Cup. In addition, Aberdeen and Motherwell have both been eliminated from the UEFA Cup.
Elsewhere, Dmitri Kharine made crucial back-to-back saves in the first half as English club Chelsea held Viktoria Zizkov to a scoreless draw to preserve a 4-2 victory on aggregate.
Russian goalkeeper Kharine dived to stop Petr Vrabec's penalty in the 30th minute, then flung himself sideways to save Karel Poborsky's follow-up shot in the game played at Jablonec, Czech Republic.
French club Auxerre, overturning a 3-1 road loss in the first leg, shut out Croatia Zagreb 3-0 to win the aggregate 4-3. Sabri Lamouhi scored in the game's final minute after earlier goals from Bernard Diomede and Stephane Mahe.
The match was marred by a bottle-throwing incident involving Croatian fans in which two policemen were injured. Police said about 200 fans, many of them drunk, confronted officers outside the Auxerre stadium before the match. The policemen's wounds were described as not serious.
A penalty shootout also decided things in Budapest, Hungary, where home team Ferencvaros beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 in the game for a 3-3 aggregate, then out-dueled the Russian club 7-6 on spot kicks.
At Genoa, Italy, England international David Platt and Attilio Lombardo scored as Sampdoria reversed a 3-2 first-leg deficit with a 2-0 home victory over Bodoe Glimt of Norway. Platt twisted his ankle as he scored and could be out of action for several weeks.
Inter lost the second leg 1-0 to Villa at Birmingham, England, on Thursday to tie the aggregate at 1-1. After two scoreless periods of extra time, Villa won the shootout 4-3.
"We were brilliant, quite superb," Villa manager Ron Atkinson said. "It was a phenomenal result for English football."
In the Cup Winners Cup, defending champion Arsenal rolled to a 3-0 home victory Thursday over Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus for a 6-1 aggregate triumph.
Ian Wright scored twice for the Gunners, bringing his total to 99 goals since joining the London club three years ago.
Aston Villa, motivated by a rousing 30,533 fans at Villa Park, unexpectedly dominated Inter in nearly every phase of the game after the opening minutes.
The breakthrough came four minutes before halftime when Steve Staunton played a long cross that hit defender Giuseppe Bergomi on the head before bouncing free. Ray Houghton darted in to volley the shot past goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca.
It was Houghton's first goal since he beat Pagliuca to win the opening game for Ireland against Italy at the World Cup in June.
Villa continued to control the flow, and substitute Guy Whittingham nearly won it with three minutes remaining in extra time when his chip from the right side of the box beat Pagliuca but glanced off the crossbar.
Each team converted its first three penalties in the shootout before Inter substitute David Fontalan shanked his attempt high. Whittingham, up next, failed to take advantage as his tame shot was saved by the diving Pagliuca.
Uruguayan striker Ruben Sosa then hit the underside of the bar to set up the winning kick from striker Phil King.
"I was really tired as I came up to take the penalty," said King, acquired in the off-season from Sheffield Wednesday. "I had cramp in my legs, but I just made up my mind that I was going to hit it and it went in."
The Villa upset was the only UEFA Cup game Thursday, while a full slate of games decided the 16 teams that would take part in Friday's second-round draw in the Cup Winners Cup.
Scotland was not be represented at the draw in Geneva. For the first time since the 1958-59 season, no Scottish team made it to the second round of any of the European cup competitions.
The country's last remaining representative, Dundee United in the Cup Winners Cup, took a 3-2 first-leg lead to Tatran Presov, but lost the game 3-1 to fall 5-4 on aggregate.
Vadislav Zvara scored two goals for the Slovakian team, which rallied after United had taken a 1-0 lead in the third minute on a goal by Jerren Nixon.
The Scottish casualty list this season already included six-time league champion Rangers, beaten by AEK Athens last month in the preliminary round of the Champions Cup. In addition, Aberdeen and Motherwell have both been eliminated from the UEFA Cup.
Elsewhere, Dmitri Kharine made crucial back-to-back saves in the first half as English club Chelsea held Viktoria Zizkov to a scoreless draw to preserve a 4-2 victory on aggregate.
Russian goalkeeper Kharine dived to stop Petr Vrabec's penalty in the 30th minute, then flung himself sideways to save Karel Poborsky's follow-up shot in the game played at Jablonec, Czech Republic.
French club Auxerre, overturning a 3-1 road loss in the first leg, shut out Croatia Zagreb 3-0 to win the aggregate 4-3. Sabri Lamouhi scored in the game's final minute after earlier goals from Bernard Diomede and Stephane Mahe.
The match was marred by a bottle-throwing incident involving Croatian fans in which two policemen were injured. Police said about 200 fans, many of them drunk, confronted officers outside the Auxerre stadium before the match. The policemen's wounds were described as not serious.
A penalty shootout also decided things in Budapest, Hungary, where home team Ferencvaros beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 in the game for a 3-3 aggregate, then out-dueled the Russian club 7-6 on spot kicks.
At Genoa, Italy, England international David Platt and Attilio Lombardo scored as Sampdoria reversed a 3-2 first-leg deficit with a 2-0 home victory over Bodoe Glimt of Norway. Platt twisted his ankle as he scored and could be out of action for several weeks.
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