It's penalty joy for Fiorentina and penalty heart break for Palermo in the UEFA Cup. Sampdoria and Empoli have also failed in their quests to win a European trophy.

Fiorentina needed penalties to see off Groningen after a scintillating 2-2 on aggregate.

Fiorentina were the more dangerous side and Montolivo was on fire as his strike was parried by Brian Van Loo and Silva did well to stop Mutu putting the rebound away.

It was all Montolivo as the Azzurrini star cut inside and fired into the side netting with nearly half an hour played.

The visitors came out looking like a different side in the second half and Sebastian Frey did well to react and stop a Lovre header after a corner.

After 55 minutes Groningen went ahead through Erik Nevland who took advantage of a fantastic ball from second-half substitute Koen Van de Laak to turn it home for 1-0.

With elimination staring them in the face for the first time, the Viola hit back quickly as Mutu took the ball in the box, turned and lashed it into the corner.

Disaster was averted with seven minutes left on the clock as Frey saved a well-hit effort from Lovre.

The tie went to extra-time and the strain started to show on the hosts as Yevgeny Levchenko's shot was tipped wide by Frey.

Zdravko Kuzmanovic was introduced for a flagging Marco Donadel as the prospect of penalty kicks loomed large.

With penalty kicks locked at 3-3, Adrian Mutu still had his kick left to take and the Romanian made no mistake! At 11.45pm local time, Fiorentina finally booked a place in the next round after a titanic struggle that will live long in the memory.

Palermo suffered penalty heartbreak against Mlada Boleslav and exited the UEFA Cup at a deserted Stadio Renzo Barbera.

Mlada 'keeper Miroslav Miller was the hero as he saved penalties from Edison Cavani and Fabio Caserta to leave Tomas Sedlacek, who scored the 90th minute equaliser, to net the winning kick.

Sampdoria are out of Europe on away goals as they were unable to break down a spirited Aalborg defence on a sodden pitch.

The Blucerchiati entered the game realistically knowing they needed a win to go through after a 2-2 draw at Marassi in the first leg.

The Italians dominated throughout, but they couldn't break down the brick wall of the Danish defence and their UEFA Cup run ended prematurely on away goals.

Empoli's maiden UEFA Cup voyage ended in embarrassment after a late collapse against FC Zurich.

The Azzurri were hit late in the first half and couldn't find a reward for an excellent second half performance before a nightmare end saw the score-line flatter Zurich.

Gigi Cagni's men had a fragile 2-1 lead from the home leg to protect, but somewhat surprisingly young star Sebastian Giovinco was left on the bench for the first half.

FC Zurich scored three goals to overtake Empoli's 2-1 advantage to eventually win 4-2 after 78th and 82nd minute goals to Abdi and Alphonse. Kollar scored in the 37th minute for the Swiss. Channel4

In Italian: Uefa amara per le italiane, Passa solo la Fiorentina

I viola passano ai rigori contro il Groningen (1-1 al 120') e accedono alla fase a gironi: olandesi avanti con Nevland al 10' della ripresa, Mutu firma il pari dopo 4 minuti. La squadra di Prandelli è l'unica italiana a superare il turno: fuori Palermo, Sampdoria ed Empoli.

Europa, ancora. La Fiorentina batte il Groningen (4 a 3 il risultato finale, dopo i calci di rigore) e prosegue nel proprio cammino internazionale. Martedì a Nyon i viola conosceranno gli avversari del girone. Viola che si presentano al Franchi “con la miglior formazione possibile” come spiegato da Cesare Prandelli. L’allenatore fa turn over solo in attacco: per Pazzini è solo panchina, dal primo minuto spazio a Bobo Vieri supportato ai lati da Semioli e Mutu. Nessun avvicendamento tra difesa e centrocampo, giocano i cosiddetti titolari a eccezione di Dainelli (infortunato) sostituito da Kroldrup.

Gazzetta