JOIN USTottenham ease past listless Inter
Tottenham Hotspur trounced a sorry Inter Milan 3-0 in the last-16 first-leg Europa League match on Thursday while last year's European champions Chelsea were humbled 0-1 by Steaua Bucharest after being stung by a Raul Rusescu penalty.
Big-spending Russian pair Zenit St Petersburg and Anzhi Makhachkala failed to manage a goal between them. Zenit lost 0-2 to late goals at FC Basel and Anzhi were held 0-0 by Newcastle United. Former European champions Benfica beat Girondins Bordeaux 1-0 thanks to an unlucky own goal and Lazio won 2-0 at VfB Stuttgart in other last 16 first leg ties. Fenerbahce won 1-0 at Czech side Viktoria Plzen and the Levante-Rubin Kazan tie finished goalless.
Tottenham and Inter were meeting for the first time since the 2010-11 group stage when Inter raced into a 4-0 lead at the San Siro, before a Gareth Bale hat-trick in second half brought it back to 4-3. Spurs then beat Inter 3-1 in return game. Inter, fourth in Serie A, have been spectacularly inconsistent this season and suffered one of their off-nights, shoddy in defence and toothless up front.
Tottenham went ahead after only six minutes when man-of-the-moment Bale scored a rare headed goal, taking his tally to 10 for Spurs in his last eight matches Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson added the second from close range in the 18th minute after Jermaine Defoe's shot on the turn was parried by keeper Samir Handanovic.
Bale was booked for diving and will miss the second leg, but Tottenham may not need him after Jan Vertonghen headed a third from a poorly-defended corner early in the second half. Steaua, European champions in 1986, scored the only goal when Ryan Bertrand was penalised for impeding Rusescu at the far post and the 24-year-old forward stepped up to fire the penalty in the 34th minute.
Despite the setback, Chelsea's interim manager Rafa Benitez was confident his team will overcome the setback in the second leg. Benfica edged Bordeaux thanks to an unlucky own goal by Cedric Carrasso, Rodrigo's shot bouncing off the crossbar and hitting the visiting goalkeeper to ricochet into the net.
Lazio overcame Stuttgart with goals in each half from Brazilian Ederson and Nigeria midfielder Ogenyi Onazi, who picked up the ball in his own half, advanced almost unchallenged and chipped the ball over Sven Ulreich.
Goalkeeper Rob Elliot made a brilliant second-half save from Cameroon forward Samuel Eto'o as Newcastle United held out for a dour goalless draw in bitterly cold conditions away to Anzhi.
Zenit were also goalless until the last 10 minutes at Basel, then Chilean midfielder Marcelo Diaz scored from close range for the Swiss champions. Veteran Alexander Frei converted a stoppage time penalty for a foul on Mohamed Salah by Luis Neto, who was also sent off. Cameroon forward Pierre Webo scored an 81st minute goal to give Turkey's Fenerbahce a 1-0 win at Plzen.
Results (pre-quarterfinals, first leg): Benfica: 1 bt Girondins Bordeaux: 0; Tottenham Hotspur: 3 bt Inter Milan: 0; Levante: 0 drew with Rubin Kazan: 0; Basel: 2 bt Zenit St Petersburg: 0; Viktoria Plzen: 0 lt to Fenerbahce: 1; VfB Stuttgart: 0 lt to Lazio: 2; Steaua Bucharest: 1 bt Chelsea: 0; Anzhi Makhachkala: 0 drew with Newcastle United: 0.