Newcastle, Tottenham, Blackburn and Glasgow Rangers all reached the last 32 of the UEFA Cup on Thursday, but French giants Paris Saint Germain saw their season hit a new low after a 4-2 defeat by Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
At St James' Park, Stephen Taylor headed an 86th-minute winner as Newcastle came from behind to beat Celta Vigo 2-1 and secure their progress to the knockout rounds.
But the win did little to lighten the mood on Tyneside with the stadium barely half-full, an indication of fans' frustrations with their team's woeful Premiership form.
PHOTO: EPA
Ernesto Canobbio gave Celta an eight-minute lead, but Antoine Sibierksi leveled with his third European goal of the season in the 36th minute.
Newcastle grabbed the winner when Albert Luque's left-wing corner fell for Taylor to head past goalkeeper Estean Suarez to settle the Group H clash.
Tottenham booked their place in the last 32 with a 1-0 Group B win over Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. All eyes were on the returning Dimitar Berbatov, who joined Tottenham from Leverkusen in May for ?10.9 million (US$21 million), and the Bulgarian international duly delivered, scoring the winning goal against his old employer.
PHOTO: EPA
It was a third successive European win for Tottenham -- following victories over Besiktas and FC Bruges -- and the English side wrapped up qualification with one game to spare.
Mark Hughes's Blackburn are also safely through after a 0-0 draw at Feyenoord in Group E.
The result left Blackburn side heading Group E on seven points, four points clear of second-placed Nancy who they host in their final group game next month.
"I'm delighted with the performance -- it was a good professional European performance tonight," Hughessaid. "It's a difficult place to come, they are a vociferous crowd and decent opposition but I thought we controlled the game for long periods."
"We dictated the first 30 minutes, possibly let them back in it for 10-15 minutes either side of the break, but I always felt we were in control of the game and could have scored on numerous occasions," he added. "In the second half they came out and tried to force the issue but we shut them out and could have nicked it at the end," he said.
Hughes is now hoping for his side's impressive European form to spill over to the Premiership where they have not won since Oct. 1.
Rangers, keen not to be outdone by Celtic's progress to the last 16 of the Champions League, kept their season alive with a 2-2 draw at Auxerre in Group A.
Striker Kris Boyd proved the hero for the Glasgow giants with a late equalizer after Daniel Niculae's 76th minute strike had cancelled out Nacho Novo's leveller to an early goal from Ireneusz Jelen.
"It's a good result, especially as we're qualified from tonight. I'm happy, the players battled throughout," said Rangers coach Paul Le Guen. "We're playing better and better, but we still have to work on our finishing. When you have four or five chances in a match you can't afford to miss them."
Le Guen's French compatriot Guy Lacombe, the embattled coach of PSG, was left fighting for his job after the 4-2 defeat to Israeli side Hapoel sent them to the foot of Group G with just a point from two games.
Salim Toama gave Hapoel a 2-0 lead inside the first six minutes before Pierre-Alain Frau and Pauleta pulled PSG level.
Walid Badir restored Hapoel's one-goal advantage on the stroke of half-time before Elyaniv Barda fired home the fourth just before the hour.
Holders Sevilla saw off Sporting Braga 2-0 to stay alive in Group C while fellow Spanish side Espanyol crushed Zulte-Waregem of Belgium 6-2 in Group F with Luis Garcia grabbing a hat-trick.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two