Holders to face Udinese in last 16 lineup

Holders FC Zenit St. Petersburg won through to face Udinese Calcio in the UEFA Cup's Round of 16 which will also feature a showdown between former European champions Olympique de Marseille and AFC Ajax in the ties on 12 and 18/19 March.

Milan out
The Round of 32 concluded on Thursday night with Zenit, newly arrived in the competition after their UEFA Champions League elimination, winning 2-1 at VfB Stuttgart to replicate their home first-leg success. Their reward is a meeting with an Udinese side that defeated KKS Lech Poznań 4-3 on aggregate. Elsewhere, however, it was an unhappy night for Serie A as AC Milan, ACF Fiorentina and UC Sampdoria were knocked out by Werder Bremen, Ajax and FC Metalist Kharkiv respectively. Bremen and Ajax will next face Ligue 1 clubs in AS Saint-Etienne and Marseille while Metalist must gear up for the first all-Ukrainian European tie against FC Dynamo Kyiv, who ousted Valencia CF on away goals with a 2-2 draw in Spain.

AaB feat
Dynamo and Metalist are joined in the next round by another Ukrainian side, FC Shakhtar Donetsk, who knocked out Tottenham Hotspur FC and will next meet PFC CSKA Moskva, conquerors of Spurs' Premier League rivals Aston Villa FC. Manchester City FC were the one English team that did make it through, beating FC København, and in the next round will take on their third Danish opponents of the season, Aalborg BK, whose 6-1 aggregate defeat of RC Deportivo La Coruña was the biggest victory margin of the round as all of Spain's representatives fell. France, like Ukraine, has three teams still involved and Paris Saint-Germain FC will provide the next test for Portugal's SC Braga, the only survivors from the UEFA Intertoto Cup, who beat RC Standard de Liège.

Galatasaray dream
Hamburger SV make up the trio of former European champions still involved and they will face in the last 16 a team hoping to reach the final in their home city of Istanbul, Galatasaray AŞ. The Turkish side made it through courtesy of Sabri Sarıoğlu's last-gasp winner against FC Girondins de Bordeaux and are one of four previous UEFA Cup winners still in the competition, along with Ajax, CSKA and Zenit. The draw for the quarter-final and beyond will take place on 20 March in Nyon – exactly two months before the final at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium.