UEFA Europa League round-up: Matchday 6 - And then there were 32


The line-up has been completed for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League.
Going into matchday six, 27 teams were already guaranteed their passage through, with just five more places up for grabs.
The likes of Tottenham Hotspur, FC Basle and Liverpool sealed their progress through on another pulsating night of drama.
No nervous wait for Swiss
Swiss outfit FC Basle secured their place in the knockout stages, though not in the most coveted fashion.
They only needed a point from their final match, an away game with already qualified Belgian side KRC Genk.
The 0-0 draw in Group G suited both sides in a match of few clear cut goalscoring opportunities.
It means the match between Sporting Lisbon and Videoton is now just a showdown involving pride.
The match will play on Friday evening, after a deluge of rain in Lisbon waterlogged the pitch at the Jose Alvalde Stadium, forcing a postponement by 24 hours.
VFB Stuttgart were another team who advanced on Thursday night in Group E but like Basle, their passage through was a scrappy one.
Stuttgart were beaten 1-0 at home by Molde FK and would have been eliminated if FC Copenhagen could beat Steaua Bucharest in the other match.
Luckily for them, the 1-1 draw meant the Danes were eliminated with Steaua winning the group.
Fab four for English sides
The destiny of Group A remained in the balance until the dying stages in Italy.
Liverpool celebrated a fantastic 1-0 away victory against Udinese, but had Antonio Di Natale scored with the last kick of the match, it could have been so different.
The Reds controlled the match and had their usual amount of chances but one goal was enough, courtesy of Jordan Henderson (pictured) midway through the first half.
Giovanni Pasquale was sent off with 10 minutes to go for two bookable offences, to complete a miserable campaign for the Serie A side.
The win meant Liverpool finished top of this group and it meant Young Boys suffered the pain of finishing on 10 points and still not going through.
Their 3-1 home victory over Anzhi was not enough to see them advance, thanks to a weaker head-to-head record against Liverpool and the Russians.
Although there were some nerves at White Hart Lane in Group J for a while, Tottenham join Liverpool, Newcastle United and Chelsea in the round of 32.
Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe were both on target in the 3-1 victory against a limited Panathinaikos side.
Lazio’s 4-1 success in Maribor meant they came out on top of Group J.
Hannover squander lead
Group L finished with plenty of action, even if the group positions had already been decided.
Levante came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home with Hannover 96. The result will not please the Germans, as they squandered a comfortable advantage, but the point did ensure they won the group.
FC Twente’s terrible European season concluded with a dire 3-1 home defeat to lowly Helsingborgs.
Steve McClaren’s side massively underachieved this season and finished bottom of the table, with four points and no wins to their name.
Fellow Dutch side PSV Eindhoven were already out too but they recorded an impressive 3-1 away victory in Naples against Napoli.
Tim Matavz scored a hat-trick for the 1988 European Cup winners, but the result was only about pride for PSV in Group F.
Dnipro top this group. Juande Ramos’s side ended with five wins from six after a 4-0 thrashing of AIK Solna.
Lastly, a notable mention to part-time Azerbaijan club Nefcti, who recorded a brilliant 2-2 away draw in the San Siro against Inter Milan.
Nicolas Canales netted an 89th minute leveller for one of their best ever results, although Inter had already qualified as runners-up in Group H to Rubin Kazan.
Although there are still two more games to be played in the competition’s group stages, we have our final 32 teams.
Commiserations to those who have been eliminated, including the likes of Twente, Udinese, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille and last season’s runners-up Athletic Bilbao.
Congratulations to all those who have progressed, and with the eight third-placed sides from the UEFA Champions League joining in from February, the knockout rounds are set to be intriguing all the way to Amsterdam.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE MATCHDAY SIX RESULTS

Group A: Udinese 0-1 Liverpool
Group A: Young Boys 3-1 Anzhi
Group B: Hapoel Tel-Aviv 2-0 Academica
Group B: Viktoria Plzen 1-0 Atletico Madrid
Group C: AEL Limassol 3-0 Marseille
Group C: Fenerbahce 0-3 Borussia Monchengladbach
Group D: Bordeaux 2-0 Newcastle United
Group D: Maritimo 2-1 Club Brugge
Group E: FC Copenhagen 1-1 Steaua Bucharest
Group E: VFB Stuttgart 0-1 Molde FK
Group F: Dnipro 4-0 AIK Solna
Group F: Napoli 1-3 PSV Eindhoven
Group G: KRC Genk 0-0 FC Basle
Group G: Sporting Lisbon P-P Videoton (Postponed until Friday night due to waterlogged pitch)
Group H: Inter Milan 2-2 Nefcti
Group H: Partizan Belgrade 1-1 Rubin Kazan
Group I: Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Sparta Prague
Group I: Lyon 2-0 Hapoel Kiryat-Shmona
Group J: Maribor 1-4 Lazio
Group J: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Panathinaikos
Group K: Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Rosenborg
Group K: Rapid Vienna 1-0 Metalist Kharkiv
Group L: FC Twente 1-3 Helsingborgs
Group L: Levante 2-2 Hannover 96

TEAMS QUALIFIED:

Best UEFA Champions League 3rd place sides: Chelsea, CFR Cluj, Olympiakos, Benfica
UEFA Europa League group winners: Liverpool, Viktoria Plzen, Fenerbahce, Bordeaux, Steaua Bucharest, Dnipro, KRC Genk, Rubin Kazan, Lyon, Lazio, Metalist Kharkiv, Hannover 96
Worst UEFA Champions League 3rd place sides: Zenit St. Petersburg, BATE Borisov, Dynamo Kiev, Ajax
UEFA Europa League group runners-up: Anzhi, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Monchengladbach, Newcastle United, VFB Stuttgart, Napoli, FC Basle, Inter Milan, Sparta Prague, Tottenham Hotspur, Bayer Leverkusen, Levante
By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

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