Feyenoord leave holders Sevilla facing final game drama
By Toby Davis
LONDON (Reuters) - Feyenoord's Karim El Ahmadi scored a superb goal to help them into the Europa League last 32 with a 2-0 win over Sevilla on Thursday that left the holders facing a winner-takes-all final game to stay in the competition.
The former European champions led nine teams -- Everton, Napoli, Trabzonspor, Celtic, Tottenham Hotspur, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas and Inter Milan -- into the knockout stage of Europe's second tier competition, setting up a nervy finale for others.
However, Feyenoord can take it easy in their final outing after they scored early in the second half through Jens Toornstra and wrapped up the points when El Ahmadi received a bouncing ball and struck a precise, looping finish.
The result compounded a miserable week for Sevilla who were thrashed 5-1 by Barcelona in La Liga on Saturday and must now get at least a point against Croatian side Rijeka in their final Group G game to continue the defence of their title.
Tottenham Hotspur beat Partizan Belgrade 1-0 with a goal from Benjamin Stambouli four minutes into the second half, but the match will be remembered for what appeared to be a bizarre publicity stunt. The referee took the players off the pitch for about 10 minutes in the first half after three separate pitch invaders, wearing identical branded t-shirts, gave security guards the run around.
"The behaviour of these people was to show who or what I don't know," Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters. "For all the people that love the game it was very disappointing, a very strange situation." Tottenham and Besiktas, who drew 2-2 with Asteras Tripolis, meet in their final match to decide who finishes top of Group C.
HIGHER PRIORITY
With a Champions League place up for grabs for this season's Europa League winners, many teams have placed a higher priority on the competition, with Everton manager Roberto Martinez among those who have welcomed the mountain of extra fixtures.
His side reached the last 32 with a 2-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg with goals from Romelu Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas to ensure they will finish top of Group H.
Wolfsburg are flying high in second place in the Bundesliga but they were outplayed by an incisive Everton side who became the latest English team to inflict defeat on German opposition.
In a difficult week for German teams, Manchester City beat Bayern Munich, Arsenal downed Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea thrashed Schalke 04 in the Champions League.
"It was a perfect away performance. Our counter-attacks were lethal and I thought we were outstanding," Martinez told the Merseyside club's website (www.evertonfc.com).
It was a good night for the three Italian sides in the competition.
Napoli made the knockout stage after a 0-0 draw at Sparta Prague gave them a top two finish in Group I, Inter Milan beat Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 2-1 to clinch top spot in Group F and Fiorentina wrapped up Group K with a 2-1 win at Guingamp.
Scottish side Celtic lost 3-1 at home to Group D winners Salzburg, but still made it through as guaranteed runners-up behind the Austrian outfit, while Trabzonspor reached the last 32 from Group L with a 3-1 home win over Metalist Kharkiv.
Salzburg, Fiorentina, Legia Warsaw and Dynamo Moscow had already booked places in the knockout phase in the last round, with the Russians maintaining their perfect group stage record in a 2-1 comeback win at home to Panathinaikos on Thursday.
The eight teams who finish third in their Champions League groups will drop into the competition in the last 32.
(Reporting by Toby Davis; editing by Ken Ferris)
