Arsenal, Hoffenheim, Leicester – in particularly dramatic fashion – and Roma are the first four teams through to the UEFA Europa League round of 32.
Arsenal reached the knockout stage by maintaining their perfect Group B record by beating Molde 3-0, Nicolas Pépé scoring shortly after half-time with a classy close-range finish. Reiss Nelson tapped in Joe Willock’s cross for the second before substitute Folarin Balogun registered his first goal for the club.
Harry Winks became the latest player – the third in four weeks, no less – to score from near the halfway line as Spurs racked up their third win of the campaign to stay level on points with Group J leaders Royal Antwerp by beating Ludogrets 4-0. Carlos Vinícius had scored both first-half goals for the Premier League leaders – his first for the club – before teeing up fellow Brazilian Lucas Moura for the fourth. Spurs have won five games in a row in all competitions for the first time since October/November 2018.
Celtic are out of the competition after a second successive 4-1 defeat by Sparta. Odsonne Édouard gave Neil Lennon’s visitors the lead in the Czech capital, but Dávid Hancko and Lukáš Juliš struck to put the hosts ahead before half-time. Juliš added a second – his fifth in two games against Celtic – before Srdjan Plavšić iced the cake in added time.
Just as they did in Lisbon three weeks ago, Rangers gave up a two-goal lead in the closing stages to draw with Benfica 2-2. Scott Arfield’s early opener was added to in style by Kemar Roofe from outside the penalty area, but James Tavernier’s own goal gave the visitors hope before Pizzi’s neat effort salvaged a point for the visitors.
Brendan Rodgers’ side came from behind three times to draw and reach the round of 32. Al Musrati and Harvey Barnes traded goals in the first nine minutes and although Paulinho had Braga ahead at the break, Luke Thomas became Leicester’s youngest European scorer to make it 2-2. Fransérgio looked to have won it in added time, but Jamie Vardy’s 95th-minute strike sent Leicester through with two games to spare.
AEK let its fans down with a 3-0 home reverse to Zorya Luhansk on Thursday for the Europa League and has all but missed out on qualification to the knockout stages, while PAOK wasted a two-goal lead at Eindhoven to go down 3-2 to PSV, but is still in with a chance
A disastrous second half sufficed for AEK to lose by the same margin its had won three weeks earlier in Ukraine (4-1), though the head-to-head record will probably not matter as these two sides are probably heading for elimination anyway.
The Greeks could not find a way through in the first half, but the goalless result at half-time would not point at what was to follow. Early on in the second half AEK was left with 10 as Yevhen Shakhov (a Ukrainian) saw his second yellow card, and the hosts crumbled.
Zorya made the most of it, scoring three times in the last half-hour of the game, first through Artem Gromov and then via Vladyslav Kabaev and Vladen Yurchenko, matching AEK’s three points from four games at the foot of the pool.
PAOK thought it would have a better night in The Netherlands, as it led 2-0 in the first 13 minutes of the game against PSV, goals coming from Fernando Varela and Christos Tzolis.
However PSV bounced back, halved its arrears within seven minutes with Cody Gakpo and scored twice in the first 10 minutes after the interval, with Chukwunonso Madueke and Donyell Malen, to snatch all three points from the jaws of a home defeat.
PAOK is on five points from four games, has secured a superior head-to-head record with PSV even if it trails it by one point, but must make sure it beats Omonia at Nicosia next week.
• Late goals from Christoph Baumgartner and Andrej Kramarić were enough for Hoffenheim to beat Slovan Liberec and reach the round of 32.
• Roma are also through to the knockout stage after a 2-0 victory away to CFR Cluj.
• LOSC Lille held AC Milan to a 1-1 draw to stay top of Group H ahead of their meeting with third-placed Sparta Praha next week.
All results
Group A: CSKA Sofia 0-1 Young Boys, CRF Cluj 0-2 Roma
Group B: Molde 0-3 Arsenal, Dundalk 1-3 Rapid Wien
Group C: Leverkusen 4-1 Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Nice 1-3 Slavia Praha
Group D: Standard Liège 2-1 Lech Poznań, Rangers 2-2 Benfica
Group E: PSV Eindhoven 3-2 PAOK, Granada 2-1 Omonoia
Group F: Napoli 2-0 Rijeka, AZ Alkmaar 0-0 Real Sociedad
Group G: Braga 3-3 Leicester, AEK Athens 0-3 Zorya Luhansk
Group H: Sparta Praha 4-1 Celtic, LOSC Lille 1-1 AC Milan
Group I: Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-1 Villarreal, Qarabağ 2-3 Sivasspor
Group J: LASK 0-2 Royal Antwerp, Tottenham 4-0 Ludogorets
Group K: CSKA Moskva 0-0 Feyenoord, Wolfsberg 0-3 Dinamo Zagreb
Group L: Gent 0-2 Crvena zvezda, Slovan Liberec 0-2 Hoffenheim
