Valencia crash out of Europa League

Athletic Bilbao's midfielder Mikel San Jose (L) vies with Valencia's Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes during the UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg football match at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia. (JOSE JORDAN/AFP)

PARIS: Gary Neville's Valencia were sent crashing out of the Europa League on Thursday (Mar 17), losing their last-16 tie to Spanish rivals Athletic Bilbao on away goals despite winning the second leg 2-1.

Valencia had been trailing 1-0 after last week's first leg at San Mames but looked to have turned the tie around when they went two goals up in the first half at the Mestalla.

Santi Mina got the first goal on the night in the 13th minute, following in to score after Alvaro Negredo's effort had been saved by Iago Herrerin.

Aderlan Santos then headed home the second eight minutes before the interval, but beaten 2012 finalists Athletic struck the decisive away goal 14 minutes from the end.

The inevitable Aritz Aduriz goal, his eighth in nine Europa League games this season, and his 31st altogether, came after a superb flick-on by Raul Garcia.

Neville will point to a handball in the build-up to that goal by Oscar De Marcos, while Herrerin made a huge save from Paco Alcacer late on and Dani Parejo sent a free-kick just wide with the last kick of the game.

The only objective remaining this season for Neville and Valencia is to make sure they avoid relegation in La Liga - they sit seven points above the drop zone with nine games left.

Athletic march on to the quarter-finals where they will be joined by fellow Spaniards Villarreal, who beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 on aggregate after a 0-0 draw in the second leg in Germany.

Meanwhile, Italian interest in European competition is at an end after Lazio were humbled 3-0 by Sparta Prague in Rome.

Captain Borek Dockal put Sparta in front and Ladislav Krejci and Lukas Julis added further goals before the break to take the Czech side through 4-1 on aggregate.

Lazio's exit comes after Juventus were eliminated from the Champions League in the last 16 by Bayern Munich on Wednesday, with Roma, Fiorentina, Napoli and Sampdoria all having been knocked out of Europe earlier in the season.

Europa League last 16, second leg results:

At Leverkusen, Germany

Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 0 Villarreal (ESP) 0

(Villarreal win 2-0 on aggregate)

At Valencia, Spain

Valencia (ESP) 2 Athletic Bilbao (ESP) 1 (Aduriz 76) (0-1)

(2-2 on aggregate, Athletic win on away goals)

At Rome, Italy

Lazio (ITA) 0 Sparta Prague (CZE) 3

(Sparta Prague win 4-1 on aggregate)

At London, England

Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) 1 Borussia Dortmund (GER) 2

(Dortmund win 5-1 on aggregate)

At Braga, Portugal

Braga (POR) 4 Fenerbahce (TUR) 1

(Braga win 4-2 on aggregate)

At Manchester, England

Manchester United (ENG) 1 Liverpool (ENG) 1

(Liverpool win 3-1 on aggregate)

At Brussels, Belgium

Anderlecht (BEL) 0 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 1

(Shakhtar win 4-1 on aggregate)

At Seville, Spain

Sevilla (ESP) 3 Basel (SUI) 0

(Sevilla win 3-0 on aggregate)