Europa League Round-Up: Late Winners, 5 Teams Qualify and Italian Teams Struggle

Thursday night's mammoth fixture list of Europa League matches has seen five teams guarantee their place in the knock-out stages of the competitions, with BATE Borisov, CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and VfB Stuttgart all getting the wins they needed to secure their passage and FC Porto claiming a draw to secure their berth in the next round.

European giants Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Dynamo Kyiv and Atletico Madrid all won, while the likes of Manchester City, Sporting Lisbon and Napoli all suffered defeats.

In fact, it was a bad night all around for Italian fans as Palermo joined Napoli in defeat, while Juventus and Sampdoria could only muster 0-0 draws at home.

With two more games left to play for each side in the group stage, the race for knock-out places is very much heating up, with lots of teams needing vital wins in the next game to stay in with a chance. This week's fixtures were the reverse of the previous game week.

Group A

In Group A, Manchester City travelled to Polish outfit Lech Poznan knowing a win would all but seal their passage to the knock-out rounds. They would have travelled in confidence following on from their Adebayor-inspired 3-1 victory two weeks ago, but suffered a reversal of the same score this time.

Injac struck first for the Poles on the half hour mark from 25 yards before Adebayor equalised at the second time of asking early in the second half. However, a freak goal from Arboleda, scoring after Boyata's attempted clearance hit him on the back of the head, and a stunning long-range strike from Mozdzen sealed a late win for the home side.

Juventus drew their fourth consecutive match in the group stage with a 0-0 stalemate against Red Bull Salzburg. With the reverse finishing 1-1 a fortnight ago, The Old Lady of Turin will really come under pressure to beat Lech Poznan on their own turf in the next round of matches.

Poznan top the group on seven points, level with City but with more goals scored. Juve have four points from their four games, and Salzburg have two points at the bottom.

Group B

Leverkusen claimed top spot in this tight group thanks to a late goal from Arturo Vidal against Aris Salonika. The versatile Chilean left it until the 90th minute to break the deadlock at the BayArena.

In the other match of the group, Spanish side Atletico Madrid picked up a vital three points away from home at Norwegian outfit Rosenborg. Argentinian star Sergio Aguero gave Atleti the perfect start after just five minutes.

Atletico led 1-0 at half time but just seven minutes into the second half the home side equalised through Henriksen. Late goals seemed to be a theme for the group as Portuguese midfielder Tiago popped up six minutes from time to score the winner.

Leverkusen currently lead Group B with eight points, one ahead of Atletico Madrid on seven. Aris Salonika have four and Rosenborg have three points. Next fixtures pits bottom vs top while the middle teams clash.

Group C

Group leaders Sporting must have thought they would be in for a straight forward 3 points when traveling to bottom side AA Gent, but the Belgians surprised them with a 3-1 victory. Smolders netted an early penalty for the home side before Carlos Saleiro equalised.

However, two goals in the last ten minutes gave the Belgians a priceless win as they battle to stay in the Europa League. Conte and Arbeitman netted the goals after Abel was sent off for Sporting.

The other clash in the group saw Levski Sofia and Lille draw 2-2 in an entertaining encounter. Dembele opened the scoring on 11 minutes for the home side before De Melo equalised after 35 minutes. Gadzhev looked to have won it for Levski when he scored with just seven minutes left, but an own goal by Ivanov after 88 minutes rescued a point for the French side.

Sporting are first with nine points, with second place very much up for grabs. Lille have five points and Gent and Levski Sofia have four points apiece.

Group D

Dinamo Zagreb won 2-0 away from home against Belgian outfit Club Bruges, with two goals in four second-half minutes enough to take the spoils. After a goalless first half, Brazilian Sammir and captain Igor Biscan scored the goals in quick succession to take a big three points home.

Spanish side Villarreal would have been hopeful of overcoming PAOK Salonika after winning 1-0 against them last time around, but the score was reversed last night as the Greek side triumphed courtesy of a 70th minute Vieirinha goal.

Those results leave Zagreb top on seven points level with PAOK, Villarreal have six points and Club Bruges bring up the rear with just two points.

Group E

BATE Borisov dispatched of Moldovan outfit Sheriff Tiraspol by three goals to one to seal qualification to the knock-out stages. Rodionov (15), Pavlov (69) and Bressan (74) scored the home side's goals while Erokhin (32) replied for Sheriff.

Group favourites Dynamo Kyiv also won, by two goals to nil, courtesy of a second half Artem Milevskiy brace. The Ukranian hot-shot netted on 47 and 61 minutes to take his team to the brink of qualification themselves, at the expense of Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar.

BATE have qualified with 10 points so far, Kyiv have seven while Sheriff and AZ have three points each.

Group F

CSKA Moscow made it a perfect 12 with their fourth consecutive victory in the group, with a home win over Palermo. The Italians took the lead early on through ex-Middlesborough striker Massimo Maccarone before Antonio Nocerino was shown two yellow cards in the opening half hour to leave the away side with ten men. CSKA took full advantage as Keisuke Honda and Tomas Necid (twice) netted three times in the first nine minutes of the second half.

Swiss outfit Lausanne lost 3-1 at home to Sparta Prague in the group's other game, Katz giving Lausanne the lead just five minutes in before Wilfred and Kweuke turned the game on its head. Wilfred netted his second in stoppage time at the end of the game.

CSKA have qualified and have 12 points, Sparta Prague have seven, Palermo have three and Lausanne have one single point.

Group G

Zenit St Petersburg survived a comeback by Hajduk Split of Croatia to win 3-2, after they found themselves three goals up early in the second half. Ionov gave the Russian side the lead after half an hour before goals from Huszti (pen 47) and Rosina (51) made it three nil. Ljubicic (69) and Vukusic (83) gave Split some hope but ultimately it was to no avail as Zenit also made it four wins from four.

AEK Athens and Anderlecht fought out a 1-1 draw in Greece, Blanco's penalty putting the home side ahead just a coupe of minutes into the second half before Polak's leveler six minutes later.

Zenit have 12 points and are already through, Anderlecht and AEK have four points, Hajduk Split have three points.

Group H

Stuttgart cruised into the knock-out stage with a 3-0 drubbing at Getafe, with Marica scoring midway through the first half and Gebhart and Harnik adding the gloss in the second half. It was Stuttgart's fourth win in four games, though Marica was sent off ten minutes before full time to take some of the shine off the performance.

Odense beat Young Boys Bern 2-0 to pick up three big points themselves; Andreasen netting a goal in each half to keep the Danish side in with a chance of snatching second place.

Stuttgart have 12 points and need only one more point to take the group as winners. The fight is on for the runner up spot with Young Boys on six, Odense and Getafe on three points.

Group I

PSV crushed Debrecen 3-0 in Holland with Ibrahim Afellay on target midway through the half. PSV made it two through Reis before half time, with Wuytens wrapping up the scoring near the end.

Meanwhile Sampdoria could only draw 0-0 with Metalist Kharkiv. Perhaps the Sampdoria faithful would be wondering what might have been if talisman Antonio Cassano had been available for selection; the Italian forward is currently in the midst of a dispute with his club chairman and is not being picked for the team.

PSV lead the group with 10 points, Kharkiv have seven points, Samp are on five and Debrecen have yet to muster any points, they are on zero.

Group J

Sevilla of Spain steam-rolled Karpaty Lviv of the Ukraine with a 4-0 home victory. Alfaro netted once in each half either side of Cigarini's goal, before Alvaro Negredo scored the fourth six minutes into the second half.

Two former European giants clashed in France as Paris St Germain and Borussia Dortmund ground out a 0-0 draw. The result kept PSG unbeaten in the group but they would have wanted to maximise their home advantage ahead of their next fixture against Sevilla.

Sevilla lead the group with nine points, with PSG on eight just ahead of Dortmund on five. Karpaty Lviv have zero points.

Group K

Liverpool kept up their recent revival with a 3-1 home win over Napoli, thanks largely to a super-sub performance from captain Steven Gerrard, who entered the fray at half time and netted a hat-trick in the final fifteen minutes. Ezequiel Lavezzi had given the Italian side the lead before half time, but a much-improved second half performance from the Reds gave them the win and kept them top of the group. See here for a full match report.

Steaua Bucharest also won by 3-1, at home to Dutch side FC Utrecht. Gardos (29) put Steaua ahead before Mertens leveled four minutes later, but two quick goals from Stancu (52 and 53) gave the Romanians the three points.

Liverpool lead the group with eight points, followed by Steaua on five and Napoli and Utrecht on three apiece.

Group L

CSKA Sofia won 2-1 at Rapid Vienna with goals from Yanchev (51) and Marquinhos (64) sandwiching a strike from the penalty spot by Vienna's Salihi on 57 minutes. CSKA received yellow cards to six of their players and may face a fine or suspension from UEFA.

And finally, FC Porto and Besiktas fought out a 1-1 draw, Falcao netting from the spot for Porto on 37 minutes before Nihat equalised for the Turks just after the hour mark.

Those results leave Porto top with 10 points, Besiktas second with seven points and Rapid and Sofia bringing up the rear on three points each.