Fiorentina tore apart Italian rivals AS Roma to reach the Europa League quarter-finals with a 3-0 win that left their opponents' season in tatters and under-fire coach Rudi Garcia tottering on the brink of the sack.
Roma were 3-0 behind before the match had settled into any rhythm with Gonzalo Rodriguez, Marcos Alonso and Jose Maria Basanta all finding the net in a breathless opening 22 minutes to set the visitors on their way to a 4-1 aggregate victory.
Napoli held off a spirited Dynamo Moscow to secure a 0-0 draw in Russia that gave them a 3-1 aggregate success on a mixed night for Italian clubs in the round of 16.
Inter Milan went out after a 2-1 defeat at home to VfL Wolfsburg that completed a 5-2 aggregate reverse while Torino were eliminated by Zenit St Petersburg, who lost 1-0 on the night but went through 2-1 over the two legs.
Holders Sevilla wrapped up a 2-1 home win over Villarreal to complete a 5-2 aggregate victory, Club Bruges went through with a 3-1 win on the night at Besiktas and Dynamo Kiev thrashed visitors Everton 5-2 to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit.
Fellow Ukrainians Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk knocked out four times European champions Ajax Amsterdam on away goals after a 2-2 draw on aggregate following extra time but the biggest surprise of the last 16 arrived in Rome.
While Fiorentina's triumph made it a night to remember for coach Vincenzo Montella against a club where he spent 10 years as a player and also had a spell as caretaker manager, it was a miserable occasion for Garcia.
"Fiorentina deserve compliments for making the most of our gifts to them, but I am mortified," the beleaguered Roma boss told Mediaset.
The Roma coach said this week he would step aside the moment he felt he was becoming a burden to his team.
The matter, however, may now be out of his hands with his side's record of one win in their last nine games having seen their Serie A title challenge evaporate and their last realistic hope of a trophy ended by Fiore in embarrassing circumstances.
TERRIBLE START
Roma got off to a terrible start when Rodriguez fired Fiorentina ahead from the spot in the 10th minute, having been made to retake his initial effort, after Jose Holebas felled Matias Fernandez in the area.
Alonso doubled the advantage when Roma goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski palmed the ball into his path and left him to dribble into the empty net and then Basanta headed in powerfully from a corner to leave a dizzy Roma gasping for breath.
After a largely uneventful second half, the hosts were dealt another blow when Adem Ljajic was sent off for a second booking.
Holders Sevilla, bidding for a fourth triumph in the competition, moved comfortably into the last eight with Vicente Iborra and Denis Suarez scoring either side of a Giovani dos Santos goal for Villarreal.
Ajax's Riechedly Bazoer raced through unchallenged to score on the hour to force extra-time against Dnipro, who retook the lead on aggregate through Yevhen Konoplyanka's curling effort.
Ajax's Mike van der Hoorn headed into an unguarded net in the 117th minute to make it 2-1 on the night but Dnipro went through having won 1-0 in the first leg in Ukraine.
Dynamo Kiev enjoyed an emphatic win over Everton that ensured no English involvement in the quarter-finals of any European competition for the first time since 1993.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez was punching the air when Romelu Lukaku cancelled out Andriy Yarmolenko's early opener.
But home goals from Lukasz Teodorczyk, Miguel Veloso, Oleh Gusev and Antunes turned the match into a rout before Everton's Phil Jagielka grabbed a late consolation.
Wolfsburg's Nicklas Bendtner swept home the winner on the half-volley in the 89th minute, while Bruges also went through 5-2 on aggregate with Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo grabbing a late double against Besiktas.
