Roma, Bilbao, PSV and Sporting reach KO stages

Athletic Bilbao, PSV Eindhoven, Roma and Sporting Lisbon qualified for the knock-out phase of the Europa League yesterday, while Toulouse maintained their hopes of going through with a 1-0 win over Partizan Belgrade.

Goals in either half from Fernando Llorente and Mikel San Jose earned Bilbao a 2-0 win at Austria Vienna, taking them into the last 32 alongside Group L leaders Werder Bremen, who beat Portuguese side Nacional 4-1.

There were no away fans at Toulouse's home game with Partizan, following the death of Toulouse fan Brice Taton after an attack by rival supporters prior to the reverse fixture in Serbia in September.

The Ligue 1 side won thanks to a 54th-minute strike from Norwegian forward Daniel Braaten and moved a point behind second-placed Club Brugge in Group J.

The Belgian club drew 0-0 at already-qualified defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk and will host Toulouse in a winner-takes-all final group match.

"I'm very pleased by how the evening unfolded," said Toulouse coach Alain Casanova.

"We did what we had to do. Tonight the objective was to get the three points without worrying about setting ourselves up for the match in Bruges."

An injury-time own goal from Tomas Repka gave PSV Eindhoven a 1-0 victory over Sparta Prague after a niggly match at the Philips Stadium, enabling the Dutch club to secure top spot in Group K.

FC Copenhagen moved level on seven points with Sparta by beating CFR Cluj 2-0, thereby eliminating the Romanians from the competition, and the Danish side will go through if they avoid defeat at home to Sparta in their last game.

Roma secured a place in the knock-out stages as they came from behind to beat Basel at the Stadio Olimpico.

Benjamin Huggel put the Swiss side ahead in the 18th minute, but Francesco Totti levelled from the penalty spot shortly after the half-hour mark after the Roma captain was held inside the area by Marcos Gelabert.

Mirko Vucinic struck the winner in the 59th minute to make sure the Italians progressed with a game to spare.

The result moved Roma one point clear of Basel at the top of Group E and two points ahead of Fulham.

Fulham kept alive their hopes of progressing to the next round after Zoltan Gera earned them a 1-0 win over CSKA Sofia at Craven Cottage.

Needing to match Group E rivals Roma on the night, Roy Hodgson's men did their part with maximum points against their Bulgarian opponents, who had only had Luboslav Penev in the dug-out for the second half after their coach nearly missed the trip altogether.

Group D leaders Sporting Lisbon needed just a point at home to Heerenveen but they had to wait until the first minute of injury time for Leonardo Grimi to cancel out Oussama Assaidi's 47th-minute opener and secure a 1-1 draw.

Grimi's goal enabled Hertha Berlin to climb above Heerenveen into second place after they won 1-0 at Latvian outfit FK Ventspils despite having goalscorer Raffael sent off for two bookable offences late on.

Hertha are six points adrift at the bottom of the German first division but will host Sporting in their final group game knowing a draw would take them through.

Everton, Benfica, Hamburg, Fenerbahce and Red Bull Salzburg all confirmed their places in the knock-out phase on Wednesday.

Played yesterday

Group D: Ventspils vs Hertha Berlin 0-1; Sporting Lisbon vs Heerenveen 1-1.

Standings: S. Lisbon 11; H. Berlin 7; Heerenveen 5; Ventspils 3.

Group E: Fulham vs CSKA Sofia 1-0; Roma vs Basel 2-1.

Standings: Roma 10; Basel 9; Fulham 8; CSKA Sofia 1.

Group F: Galatasaray vs Panathinaikos 1-0; D. Bucharest vs Sturm Graz 2-1.

Standings: Galatasaray 13; Panathinaikos 9; D. Bucharest 6; S. Graz 1.

Group J: S. Donetsk vs Club Bruges 0-0; Toulouse vs P. Belgrade 1-0.

Standings: S. Donetsk 13; Club Bruges 8; Toulouse 7; P. Belgrade 0.

Group K: PSV vs S. Prague 1-0; FC Copenhagen vs CFR Cluj 2-0.

Standings: PSV 11; Copenhagen, S. Prague 7; CFR Cluj 3.

Group L: A. Vienna vs A. Bilbao 0-3; W. Bremen vs Nacional 4-1.

Standings: W. Bremen 13; A. Bilbao 10; A. Vienna, N. Madeira 2.