LAZIO and AS Roma bowed out of the UEFA Cup last night reducing Italian representation to just Inter Milan - and they only won on penalties after having England international Paul Ince sent off.
Italy has provided seven of the last nine UEFA Cup winners, three of those finals were all Italian affairs, but this season could be a repeat of last when Italy failed to provide one semi-finalist.
Roma beat Karlsruhe 2-1 in the second leg match but found the 3-0 deficit from the first leg too much of a hurdle, while Lazio lost 5-3 to Tenerife, 5-4 on aggregate.
Lazio may count themselves unlucky to have scored three away goals and lost, but they were too open at the back allowing Tenerife striker Juanele a double, the decisive goal of the game being a delightful long range effort.
Lone survivors Inter Milan relied Gianluca Pagliuca in the penalty shoot-out, saving Erwin Dampfhofer's spot-kick. Manager Roy Hodgson's celebrations were marred by the extra-time sending off of Ince for a second bookable offence, his second dismissal in two weeks.
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