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Leeds, Celtic celebrate in Europe

Leeds' Alan Smith celebrates after scoring in the UEFA Cup against Hapoel Tel Aviv, in Florence, Italy, on Thursday. Leeds won 4-1. PHOTO: AP

On a full night of UEFA Cup action Celtic, Leeds and even Fulham advanced, but Parma and last years finalist Alaves crashed out.

In a match with a historical rivalry, Celtic won the return leg of the ``Battle of Britain,'' with Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson scoring to give the Scottish champion a 2-0 win over England's Blackburn for a 3-0 aggregate win.

Leeds striker Alan Smith scored four goals as the Premier League club beat Israel's Hapoel Tel-Aviv 4-1 in the neutral venue of Florence, Italy.

The 22-year-old England striker scored in the 29th, 54th, 62nd and 82nd minutes against Hapoel, a surprise UEFA Cup quarterfinalist last season. Leeds advanced 5-1 on aggregate.

``It's the first senior hat-trick of my career and it's something I will always remember,'' Smith said.

``It's a good night to get it, but the main thing is we've got a victory and we are in the next round. That's what we came to do.''

Hapoel scored in the second minute from a Yossi Abuksis free kick, but he was sent off in the 79th minute for a second yellow card.

Fulham beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 with goals from Steed Malbranque and Luis Boa Morte to win 5-1 on aggregate.

But division one club Ipswich was eliminated by Czech club Slovan Liberec 4-2 on penalties. Liberec won 1-0 on Thursday from a Baffour Gyan goal to level the aggregate score.

In Germany, Schalke drew 0-0 with Legia Warsaw in Gelsenkirchen but managed to progress 3-2 on aggregate.

But last year's finalist Alaves of Spain was eliminated by Besiktas, an Ilhan Mansiz goal giving the Turkish side a 1-0 win and a 2-1 aggregate score.

In another win for Turkey, Denizlispor ousted Sparta Prague, who reached the second round of the Champions League last season. Denizlispor advanced 2-1 on aggregate after a 2-0 win.

Last Thursday, Hertha Berlin advanced while Bordeaux, Malaga and Stuttgart went through on Tuesday.

The draw for the third round was scheduled for today in Geneva, and will involve teams that finished third in their group after the first round of the Champions League, including Liverpool, French clubs Auxerre, Lyon and Lens and AEK Athens.

Violence flared in Bulgaria where a newspaper photographer was injured by a home made bomb thrown from the stands during Levski Sofia's match against Sturm Graz of Austria.

The match ended 1-0 to Levski, but went to penalties after a drawn aggregate score. Sturm advanced after winning the shootout 8-7.

But in Athens, the strong security presence -- more than 2,500 police and anti-riot teams -- and closed roads prevented any violence.
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