Liverpool, Spurs into last-32

Liverpool and Tottenham reached the Europa League last 32
on Thursday while Scottish interest in continental
competition came to another sobering end when Celtic were
knocked out.
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool defeated Bordeaux 2-1 at Anfield
having endured the worst possible start when injury-
plagued England striker Daniel Sturridge's comeback from a
knee injury stalled when he hurt his foot in the warm-up.
The English side then fell a goal down in the Group B clash
in bizarre fashion after 33 minutes when goalkeeper Simon
Mignolet was penalised for time-wasting.
Henri Saivet buried the 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 injury time with a rasping right-footed drive.
Harry Kane headed Tottenham into the last-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 Londoners could probably have done without the
8 000 kilometre-round trip to the Azerbaijan 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 Qarabag's Azersun Arena in Baku.
The first hour was unforgettable, the game finally bursting
into life when forward Son Heung-min smashed a shot from
the edge of the box with the ball hitting the crossbar.
Shortly after Qarabag's keeper Ibrahim Sehic edged Eric
Dier's angled shot wide.
Qarabag's Spanish winger Dani Quintana then forced Spurs'
keeper 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.
"Very happy to be qualified! It wasn't easy but delighted
with the win!" tweeted Kane.
Pochettino added: "The objective is gone now. 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."
Scottish champions Celtic slumped to a 10th consecutive
Europa League game without a win - 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 levelled 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.
Elsewhere, Russian side Krasnodar ran out 1-0 winners
over already-qualified Borussia Dortmund to go through
from Group C.
Also through were Spaniards Villarreal courtesy of Viktoria
Plzen's 1-0 loss to Minsk.
Swiss champions Basle drew 2-2 with 10-man Fiorentina
to go through from Group I while Sporting Lisbon boosted
their prospects of escaping from Group H with a 4-2 win at
Lokomotiv Moscow.
Lazio continued their Europa League campaign with 3-1
win over Dniepropetrovsk while Sporting Braga went
through from Group F thanks to a last-minute winner in a
2-1 home win against Slovan Liberec.