English Premiership bigspenders Aston Villa produced a dreadful performance in Croatia tonight beating unheralded Varteks Varazdin 1-0 but going out on the away goals rule as the tie finished 3-3 on aggregate.
A wonderful goal by Moroccan international Mustapha Hadji in injury-time was completely out of place in a match that had little of merit for the fans who made their trip out from England as they watched their side exit at the first round stage for the third time.
Varteks had the best of the first-half with Villa's Danish keeper Peter Schmeichel saving them with a scrambled stop from Croat captain Miljenko Mumlek.
Veldin Karic was the liveliest of the attackers on both sides but having got in behind the Villa defence with a mazy run he took the ball too far after Schmeichel forced him wide.
Karic was unlucky in the second-half to be booked for diving in the area when it appeared that Welsh international defender Mark Delaney had tripped him.
It was Karic again who produced their best strike of the second-half as he turned inside a defender and shot from just outside the box with Schmeichel getting down to push it away and Alan Wright kicked it away for a corner.
However with Varteks withdrawing increasingly into their own half the Villa attack failed to rouse themselves and not even French wizard David Ginola was able to produce any inspiring play to get them through the doughty Croats.
AFP