Chelsea continued their inconsistent form by crashing to a 1-0 defeat at Steaua Bucharest in their last 16 first leg game of the Europa League, while Tottenham and Gareth Bale sparkled yet again in an impressive 3-0 win over Inter Milan.
Newcastle left themselves a chance to progress with a 0-0 draw in Russia against big-spenders Anzhi Makhachkala, while Lazio, Benfica, Basel and Fenerbahce picked up wins.
The Blues have had a campaign to forget this season, crashing out of the Champions League while trying to defend their title, and languishing in fourth place well off the pace of league leaders Manchester United.
The unrest caused by the appointment of Rafa Benitez has not helped matters either and another abject performance from Chelsea saw them surrender a 1-0 deficit going into the second leg at Stamford Bridge in seven days.
Steaua got the only goal of the game just after the half hour, after Ryan Bertrand was adjudged to have impeded Raul Rucescu inside the box. Rucescu himself stepped up to take the debatable penalty, smashing it past goalkeeper Petr Cech.
If Chelsea were expected to wake up after going a goal down, it never happened as Fernando Torres suffered yet another barren game in front of goal, although he was hardly given too much supply up front.
Benitez will now have to prepare his team for the big quarterfinal F.A. Cup clash against Manchester United Sunday, before facing Steaua next Thursday for the second leg.
At White Hart Lane, Spurs were in irrepressible form with Bale, who else, giving the home side an early 1-0 lead in the 6th minute, heading home off a Gylfi Sigurdsson cross.
Sigurdsson then got in on the act in the 18th minute, before Jan Vertonghen put the tie well in Spurs' favor with a goal in the 53rd minute.
Inter will now have it all to do at the San Siro if they are to stand any chance of overcoming the 3-0 deficit.
Results: Anzhi 0-0 Newcastle; Viktoria Plzen 0-1 Fenerbahce; Stuttgart 0-2 Lazio; Steaua 1-0 Chelsea; Benfica 1-0 Bordeaux; Tottenham 3-0 Internazionale; Levante 0-0 Rubin Kazan; Basel 2-0 Zenit St. Petersburg.