Sevilla's quest for a record-breaking third consecutive Europa League triumph remains on course after it beat Basel 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals. In another clash, Gary Neville's Valencia lost out to league rival Athletic Bilbao on away goals, despite winning the tie 2-1.
Gameiro shines for Sevilla
Entering the second leg following a 0-0 draw in Switzerland, a quick brace of goals from Kevin Gameiro after Adil Rami opened the scoring wrapped up the tie in the space of 10 first-half minutes as Sevilla put a dent in Basel's impressive away record in Europe.
The result extended Sevilla's sequence of Europa League home wins to 11 — the longest in the competition's history — and Unai Emery's men have won 17 straight games in all competitions at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
>Emery: Wins sets up Sevilla for Bernabeu
The ground has become one of European football's fortresses in the 2015-16 season, and few teams left in the competition will fancy its chances of getting a result in Andalucia in the quarter-finals.
Basel's exit from the competition means it misses out on the chance to play a European final on home turf; the Europa League final will be played at their St Jakob-Park on May 18.
The returning Jose Antonio Reyes was heavily involved from the outset, linking up with Michael Krohn-Dehli to create the first chance for Gameiro, whose close-range shot drew a reflex save from Tomas Vaclik.
Sevilla's fast breaks and intricate passing had Basel on the ropes, and only a timely interception by Daniel Hoegh stopped Vicente Iborra from turning Gameiro's low cross into the net.
The home side drew first blood in the tie when Rami stooped to head a Reyes corner in off the post, but Sevilla only held the lead thanks to a world-class save from goalkeeper David Soria that prevented an Iborra own goal.
The match then slipped out of Basel's reach inside two minutes at the end of the first half.
Reyes danced through the Basel defence and his low cross gave Gameiro the easiest of finishes from close range.
A minute later, Krohn-Dehli was the provider with a run and cross that found Gameiro, and the striker's header came back of the underside of the crossbar and bounced in off his leg to make it 3-0.
Denmark international Krohn-Dehli continued to pull the strings after the break, and his deft back-heel put Mariano through to shoot just wide as Sevilla went in search of a fourth goal.
Sevilla coach Emery, perhaps with an eye on his side's next match against Real Madrid, substituted Krohn-Dehli and the pace of the game dropped off thereafter.
Gameiro too was hauled off as Basel showed little sign of launching a fightback. Luca Zuffi’s effort from 25 yards out was still rising as it flew over the crossbar, while Breel Embolo missed two chances late on as the Swiss side were dumped out of the competition.
Valencia crashes out
Gary Neville's Valencia was sent crashing out after it lost its 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 it went two goals up in the first half at the Mestalla.
Santi Mina got the first goal on the night in the 13th minute and Aderlan Santos headed home the second eight minutes before the interval, but beaten 2012 finalists Athletic struck the decisive away goal 14 minutes from time.
The inevitable Aritz Aduriz scored his eighth in nine Europa League games this season and his 31st altogether after a superb flick-on by Raul Garcia.
"Tonight is a negative obviously, but I saw a very good performance," said Neville, who was sent to the stands for complaining about a handball in the build-up to Aduriz's goal.
"I thought it was a really bad decision. I never like to completely put the elimination down to the referee but I think when he watches that back he will be very disappointed."
Villarreal is also through after beating Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 on aggregate following a 0-0 draw in the second leg in Germany.
That means three Spanish sides in the last eight, and six left in Europe altogether. In contrast, Italian interest in European competition is over after Lazio was humbled 3-0 by Sparta Prague in Rome.
Captain Borek Dockal put Sparta in front and Ladislav Krejci and Lukas Julis added further goals to take the Czech side through 4-1 on aggregate.
The 2009 UEFA Cup winner Shakhtar Donetsk also advanced , Eduardo's late goal securing a 1-0 win over Anderlecht in Belgium that took the Ukrainians through 4-1 on aggregate.
The quarter-final line-up was completed by Portuguese side Braga , after the 2011 runners-up overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit by beating Fenerbahce 4-1 as the Turkish giant ended the game with just eight men.
Ahmed Hassan put Braga ahead only for Alper Potuk to grab an away goal for Fenerbahce.
However, Mehmet Topal was sent off after conceding a penalty that was converted by Josue, and Nikola Stoiljkovic put the hosts ahead in the tie on 74 minutes.
Rafa Silva added another goal for Braga while Fenerbahce also had Potuk and Volkan Sen red-carded.
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