British clubs advance as Berbatov scores in Leverkusen

British clubs enjoyed a successful night yesterday when Glasgow Rangers, Newcastle, Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur all progressed to the knock-out stage of the UEFA Cup.

Striker Kris Boyd scored a late equaliser to give Rangers a 2-2 draw at AJ Auxerre that guaranteed the Scottish club qualification to the next round.

Unbeaten Rangers, who have taken seven points from three games, stayed top of Group A, one point ahead of Maccabi Haifa, who beat Partizan Belgrade 1-0 at home.

Livorno, of Italy, Partizan and Auxerre all have one point from two games and Rangers cannot finish lower than third even if they lose their last match at home to Partizan on Dec. 14.

"I feel there is a real spirit in the team... We responded well, never gave up," Rangers' French coach Paul Le Guen told BBC Scotland after Rangers twice came from behind.

Tottenham Hotspur are also through after a tap-in from Dimitar Berbatov gave them a 1-0 success at Bayer Leverkusen while Blackburn battled out a goalless draw in Holland against Feyenoord to pick the point they needed to advance.

It was a triumphant return to the BayArena for Berbatov, who moved to Tottenham from Leverkusen in a 16 million euros ($20.76 million) transfer before the start of the season.

The Bulgarian scored in the 36th minute of a match dominated by the English team, who stay top of Group B with a maximum nine points from three games. Leverkusen have one point from two matches.

Berbatov's goal came as a result of the one piece of quality in the first half.

Robbie Keane played a beautiful angled pass inside the full back to pick out Aaron Lennon running into the area on the right. Lennon's shot struck the goalkeeper's leg and flew low across goal for Berbatov to convert.

At St James's Park, Newcastle came from behind to beat Spanish side Celta Vigo 2-1 to clinch their third consecutive win and move into the next round.

Goals from Antoine Sibierski (36) and Stephen Taylor (86) annulled Fabian Cannobio's fourth minute opener for Celta Vigo as the English club put behind them their poor domestic form to ease through.

Palermo lose 3-0

In the other Group H match, Fenerbahce picked up their first points with a 3-0 home victory over Palermo to retain their hopes of qualification.

UEFA Cup holders Sevilla got the defence of their title back on track with a 2-0 home win over Braga in Group C.

The win put Sevilla, who drew their opening match 0-0 at Slovan Liberec, second in the group with four points from two games, two adrift of leaders AZ Alkmaar.

Juande Ramos's side dominated from the outset but did not find the breakthrough until four minutes before half-time when Adriano Correia's cross from the left was drilled into the net by Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano.

Braga threatened with quick counter-attacks but the game was settled 13 minutes from time when Renato's fierce shot was only parried by visiting goalkeeper Paolo Santos.

Sevilla's Uruguayan striker Ernesto Chevanton had only been on the pitch a few minutes as a substitute but reacted quickly to put away the loose ball.