Former winners Bayer Leverkusen dumped out Bundesliga rivals Hamburg in a thrilling second leg tie to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.

The 1988 winners, 1-0 up from the first leg, went through on away goals after losing 3-2 in Hamburg. Leverkusen looked to have sealed the tie after taking a 2-1 lead on the night before Hamburg hitback to leave the visitors clinging on.

Separated by just one place and one point in the Bundesliga, fourth-placed Leverkusen struck first with a 19th-minute goal from Sergej Barbarez.

The Bosnian forward, who spent six years with Hamburg before joining Leverkusen in 2006, redirected a free kick from Tranquillo Barnetta past Frank Rost to leave the home side up against it.

Substitute Piotr Trochowski gave them hope with a 53rd-minute equaliser but Greek striker Fanis Gekas, the first-leg matchwinner, replied immediately.

Peruvian international Paolo Guerrero equalised with 25 minutes remaining and in a late rally Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart struck with nine minutes left, but Hamburg could not get another and bowed out.

Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg also advanced on away goals as a 2-0 home win over Marseille, earned with two goals from Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, saw the tie finish 3-3 on aggregate.

The striker netted in each half to cap a fine fightback in the tie, kickstarted by a late goal from Andrei Arshavin in the first leg after Marseille had stormed into a three-goal lead.

Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld handed a number of fringe players a start against Anderlecht having routed the Belgians 5-0 in the first leg.

Defender Lucio extended Bayern's advantage with an early goal but to their credit, Anderlecht battled back to win the game with strikes from Serhat Akin and Oleksandr Yakovenko.

Getafe added to Benfica's woes with a 1-0 home victory putting the Spaniards through 3-1 on aggregate. Benfica parted company with coach Jose Antonio Camacho at the weekend after a 2-2 draw against bottom team Uniao Leira.

Two last 16, second-leg ties take place on Thursday. Werder Bremen host Scottish league leaders Rangers needing to overturn a 2-0 first-leg loss while Portugal's Sporting, losing finalists in 2005, start all-square at 1-1 with Bolton Wanderers in Lisbon.

The final is in Manchester on May 14.

Reuters