Tottenham qualify for the Europa League knockout stages with Qarabag win

26 November 2015 21:01

Tottenham booked their place in the Europa League knock-out stage with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Qarabag in Azerbaijan.

In-form Harry Kane's 77th-minute header from a Christian Eriksen corner guaranteed Spurs a top-two spot in Group J with one round of games remaining.

Anderlecht, who started the day bottom of the pool, moved into pole position to join them thanks to a 2-0 win at Monaco, which lifted the Belgian club a point ahead of their opponents, three behind Tottenham.

The goals came from Guillaume Gillet in the 45th minute and substitute Frank Acheampong in the 78th.

Basle sealed qualification and top spot in Group I after coming from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw at home to 10-man Fiorentina.

The visitors led 2-0 thanks to goals from Federico Bernarderschi, either side of the 27th-minute red card for defender Facundo Roncaglia.

But Marek Suchy pulled one back five minutes before the break and Mohamed El-Nenny equalised 16 minutes from time to put Basle three points ahead of the Italians in second, but with a better head-to-head record.

Fiorentina still need a point to secure progression, though, as they are only two ahead of Lech Poznan and Belenenses, who drew 0-0 in Portugal, Tiago Silva missing a first-half penalty for the hosts.

Schalke and Sparta Prague secured qualification from Group K thanks to 1-0 home wins.

Schalke saw off APOEL Nicosia thanks to an 87th-minute winner from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. Dennis Aogo missed a penalty two minutes later for the Germans.

Sparta's goal came rather earlier, Jakub Brabec scoring in the 33rd minute, but the Czechs had to play the last eight minutes with 10 men after the sending off of Ladislav Krejci.

The win left Schalke top with Sparta two points further back.

A late brace from Aritz Aduriz earned Athletic Bilbao a 3-2 win at Augsburg which earned the Spaniard top spot in Group L.

Bilbao trailed going into the closing stages after Markel Susaeta's opener was cancelled out by strikes from Piotr Trochowski and Raul Bobadilla.

But Aduriz headed the equaliser in the 84th minute and snatched the winner two minutes later to leave their opponents on the brink of elimination.

Partizan Belgrade scored an 89th-minute winner through Andrija Zivkovic to win 2-1 at AZ Alkmaar and sit second, three points ahead of Augsburg, whom they face at home in their final game.

Dabney dos Santos had put AZ ahead, with Aboubakar Oumarou levelling.

St Etienne sealed second place in Group G, despite only earning a 1-1 draw at Rosenborg.

Alexander Soderlund put the Norwegians ahead, with Nolan Roux equalising with an 80th-minute penalty.

Lazio, already guaranteed top spot, beat Dnipro to end the Ukrainian side's hopes of progression.

Antonio Candreva, Marco Parolo and Filip Djordjevic were on target for the Italians, with Bruno Gama briefly levelling.

Besiktas moved into pole position to qualify from a very tight Group H thanks to a 2-0 win over Skenderbeu.

Lokomotiv's 4-2 home defeat to Sporting Lisbon left them in danger of being caught by the Portuguese side, with two points separating the top three.

Besiktas' goals both came from Cenk Tosun.

Sporting came from a goal down, having conceded to Maicon, to race into a 4-1 lead thanks to efforts from Freddy Montero, Bryan Ruiz, Gelson Martins and Matheus Pereira.

Aleksey Miranchuk got a late second for the Russians, but it was too little too late.

Sion missed the chance to qualify from Group B as they lost 2-0 at Rubin Kazan. The Swiss outfit had Birama Ndoye in the 34th minute and second-half goals from Blagoy Georgiev and Marko Devic condemned them to defeat and kept the Russians' hopes alive.

In Group C Krasnodar beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 thanks to Pavel Mamaev's second-minute penalty, but both sides were already through.

In Group E Dinamo Minsk picked up their first points in the group with a 1-0 success over Viktoria Plzen, also already eliminated.

Nenad Adamovic followed up to score after his injury-time penalty was saved, moments after Oleg Veretilo had been sent off for the Belarusians.

Source: PA