"Big clubs" are safely through

LAST night's European Cup Winners' Cup results nearly all went to form with the `big clubs' - Barcelona, holders Paris Saint …

LAST night's European Cup Winners' Cup results nearly all went to form with the `big clubs' - Barcelona, holders Paris Saint Germain, Benfica and Fiorentina - all booking their place in next year's last eight.

Fiorentina booked their place in the quarter finals after holding Sparta Prague to a hard fought 1-1 draw. The Italians, who won 2-1 in Florence two weeks ago, were rocked by a Vratislav Lokvenc early goal and then failed to create a single scoring opportunity in the opening 45 minutes.

Holders Paris Saint Germain clawed back their two goal deficit to overwhelm Galatasaray 6-4 on aggregate. Brazilian Leonardo, Panamanian Dely Valdes, Patrice Loko and Rai all found the net for a 4-0 victory at the Parc des Princes.

In other games, Benfica gave Portugal more to shout about following Porto's four straight wins in the European Champions League. Benfica came back from 2- 1 down at Lokomotiv Moscow to win 3-2 on the night with goals from Pandaru, Donizete and Joao Pinto to go through 4-2 on aggregate.

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Barcelona went through after their 1-1 draw at Red Star Belgrade, but the one shock of the round was caused by Norway's SK Brann (they beat Shelbourne earlier in the competition), who knocked out the once mighty PSV Eindhoven 4-3 on aggregate.