UEFA Cup: Tottenham, Everton, Bolton, and Rangers All Through

In one of the better nights for British football, four out of the five competing sides have made it through to the last 16 slots of the UEFA Cup.

It was expected to be a tough round for the three sides looking for results away from home.  Still, both Bolton Wanderers and Glasgow Rangers secured the away draws to get through.

There was, however, a much tougher night in store for Aberdeen.  They were trounced 5-1 at the Alianz Arena by the mighty Bayern Munich.

Bolton traveled to Madrid with a 1-0 aggregate lead to take on Real's neighbors, Atletico Madrid.  The English side defended heroically to claim a fantastic 0-0 draw, which saw them dump out a European giant.  The Bolton squad now faces another Euro giant in the form of Sporting Lisbon.

Scottish side Rangers traveled to Greece, attempting to prevent a Greek tragedy.  Rangers went into the game at level pegging, thanks to the Scots’ failure to score in the first leg at Ibrox.

It was a tough night for Rangers after falling behind early, but keeper Alan McGregor kept them in the game.  Nacho Novo popped up with just nine minutes remaining to fire home the equalizer.

Rangers will now face Werder Bremen of Germany in a mouth-watering tie.

Everton hammered SK Brann 6-1 on the night and 8-1 on aggregate, setting up a clash with Italian high flyers Fiorentina.

With confidence Tottenham Hotspur defended their 2-1 aggregate lead (attained in Prague) against Slavia at White Hart Lane last night. Jamie O'Hara's early goal settled any lingering nerves and the Slavia side seemed beat.

In the second half, though, they came out fighting and even secured an equalizer to match a rather lackluster Spurs.  

Still, the Londoners managed to get through and Juande Ramos believes his Spurs side can really contend for the UEFA Cup.

Next up for Spurs is the Carling Cup final against Chelsea at Wembly.  I'll be watching on Sunday and it should be a marvelous final.

Finally to Aberdeen who were well beaten in Germany.  The 5-1 score I'm sure flattered the Germans, but the Aberdeen men never were in the second leg.  In the record books the 7-3 on aggregate might look a little rough, but Aberdeen in no way disgraced themselves.

So we have four British sides left in the tournament, as well as four from Germany.  Interesting.  So an English-German final, then?