Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur reached the UEFA Europa League round-of-32 on Thursday, while Scottish interest in continental competition came to another sobering end when Celtic were knocked out.
Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool beat Girondins de Bordeaux 2-1 at Anfield having endured the worst possible start when England striker Daniel Sturridge’s comeback from a knee injury stalled when he hurt his foot in training.
The English side then fell a goal behind in the Group B clash in bizarre fashion after 33 minutes when goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was penalized for holding onto the ball for 20 seconds rather than the permitted six.
Photo: Reuters
Henri Saivet buried the resulting free-kick, but Liverpool were level just five minutes later when James Milner scored from the penalty spot after Ludovic Sane fouled Christian Benteke.
Belgian star Benteke then hit what proved to be the winner in first-half stoppage-time, a rasping right-footed drive.
“It was an important night for the whole team because we are in the next round. A few weeks ago we were with three points and now we have nine,” Klopp said.
On Sturridge’s latest setback, he added: “We have to wait for some things, it’s a fight again, we have to be prepared and we will be prepared.”
Harry Kane headed Tottenham into the round-of-32, the red-hot England striker’s ninth goal in six matches earning Spurs a 1-0 win at Azerbaijani champions Qarabag.
Kane’s decisive second-half goal assured the Group J leaders qualification into the knockout stages with a game to spare.
The North London side could probably have done without the 8,000km round trip to the Azerbaijani capital just three days before the visit of Chelsea to White Hart Lane.
Despite the imminent arrival of the ailing Premier League champions, Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino fielded a strong side at the Azersun Arena in Baku.
The first hour was forgettable, the game finally bursting into life when forward Son Heung-min smashed a shot from the edge of the penalty area with the ball hitting the crossbar.
Shortly after Qarabag goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic edged Eric Dier’s angled shot wide.
Qarabag’s Spanish winger Dani Quintana then forced Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris into action down at the other end.
Having sprung to life Tottenham looked the more likely to break the deadlock and in the 78th minute they deservedly took the lead.
Christian Erikssen fired in their umpteenth corner from the left with in-form Kane flicking in Son’s header.
“We will make sure we will arrive in a good condition to play Chelsea. We have a strong squad and a strong mentality, with the maturity,” Pochettino said.
Scottish champions Celtic slumped to a 10th consecutive Europa League game without a victory — a 2-1 loss at home to Ajax in Group A.
Callum McGregor had given Celtic a fourth-minute lead at Parkhead, but Arkadiusz Milik leveled in the 21st minute for the Dutch side.
Ajax substitute Vaclav Cerny scored the late winner just two minutes from time to keep his team’s qualification hopes alive, while Celtic’s fate was sealed when Fenerbahce defeated already-qualified Molde 2-0.
Celtic coach Ronny Deila pleaded for patience and said that European success would come.
“We buy talent, players who can be Champions League players,” the Norwegian said. “Nobody comes in and is a Champions League player the first game. You have to develop them through time and we are going to be ready next year, that is the message to all the fans.”
Elsewhere, Russian side Krasnodar ran out 1-0 winners over already-qualified Borussia Dortmund to go through from Group C. Also through were Spanish side Villarreal, 1-0 winners over Rapid Vienna, courtesy of Viktoria Plzen’s 1-0 loss to Dinamo Minsk.
Swiss champions Basel drew 2-2 with 10-man ACF Fiorentina to go through from Group I, while Portugal’s Sporting boosted their prospects of escaping from Group H with a 4-2 win at Lokomotiv Moscow.
SS Lazio continued their campaign with 3-1 victory over Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, while SC Braga went through from Group F thanks to a last-minute winner in a 2-1 home triumph against Slovan Liberec.
In Thursday night’s other matches, it was Rubin Kazan 2, Sion 0; Rosenberg BK 1, AS Saint-Etienne 1; Besiktas 2, Skenderbeu Korce 0; Belenenses 0, Lech Poznan 0; AS Monaco 0, RSC Anderlecht 2; Schalke 04 1, APOEL 0; Sparta Prague 1, Asteras Tripolis 0; AZ 1, Partizan 2; Augsburg 2, Athletic Bilbao 3; PAOK 0, Qabala 0; Legia Warsaw 1, Midtjylland 0; Club Brugge KV 0, SSC Napoli 1; and Olympique de Marseille 2, Groningen 1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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