English sides Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City along with Scottish giants Celtic were left needing to win their final Europa League group ties if they are to have a chance of reaching the knockout stages after all three lost their penultimate group matches yesterday.
Tottenham were surprisingly beaten 2-1 in London by 10-man PAOK Salonika, Celtic lost 1-0 at home to Atletico Madrid – who ensured they progressed – while Championship outfit Birmingham also went down 1-0 away at last season’s finalists Portuguese side Braga.
Sloppy marking from Sebastien Bassong allowed Dimitris Salpingidis and Stefanos Athanasiadis to give Greek side PAOK a 2-0 lead after 13 minutes but Spurs pulled one back with a Luka Modric penalty after Konstantinos Stafylidis was dismissed for handball on the line.
Tottenham thought they had equalised through Jermain Defoe in the second half, but referee Bas Nijhuis controversially disallowed the striker’s goal for a foul on Pablo Contreras.
The result put PAOK through and left Spurs needing to hammer Shamrock Rovers in Ireland in a fortnight’s time and hope the Greeks overcome Rubin Kazan in Thessaloniki.
Celtic will need to pull off a win away at Udinese in their remaining match. The Italians are three points ahead of Celtic after drawing 0-0 with bottom side Rennes.
The Hoops should have been 1-0 down after six minutes as Eduardo Salvio was picked out unmarked in the box but his header lacked the accuracy reflected in his return of just one goal this season.
Celtic had their chances with veteran Greek striker Giorgios Samaras having the best one but his sidefooted volley from close range went straight at the ‘keeper.
While Salvio missed another gilt-edged chance Atletico did eventually break the deadlock in the 30th minute through the impressive Arda Turan who rifled home a 25 yard effort after an Atletico corner had been headed clear but Celtic skipper Beram Kayal will take some of the blame as he ill advisedly ducked to let the shot fly over him and see it go in off ‘keeper Fraser Forster’s hands.
Things got worse for Celtic as left-back Joe Ledley was stretchered off. He was replaced by Charlie Mulgrew, who played despite his father dying last week.
Celtic pushed forward in the second half as they had to do and thought they had grabbed an equaliser through Gary Hooper but it was ruled out for handball by Anthony Stokes.
Birmingham must beat already eliminated Maribor and hope there is a winner from the Braga and Club Brugge match as both are three points ahead of the English League Cup holders.
They should have been in front away to Braga at half-time but Serbian striker Nikola Zigic saw his penalty saved by veteran ‘keeper Quim.
The English side paid for missing the penalty and wasting several other chances as the hosts took the lead early in the second half when former Newcastle flop Hugo Viana let fly fromoutside the box and his shot gave Birmingham ‘keeper Boaz Myhill no chance as it took a huge deflection.
Braga had the upper hand from that moment on but like their opponents in the first half couldn’t put their chances away.
Results, standings
Played yesterday
Group A
Rubin Kazan vs Shamrock Rovers 4-1; Tottenham Hotspur vs PAOK Salonika 1-2.
Standings: PAOK 11; Rubin Kazan 10; Tottenham 7; Shamrock Rovers 0.
Group B
Vorskla vs FC Copenhagen 1-1; Standard Liege vs Hanover 2-0.
Standings: Standard Liege 11; Hanover 8; FC Copenhagen 5; Vorskla 2.
Group C
Legia Warsaw vs PSV Eindhoven 0-3; Rapid Bucharest vs Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-3.
Standings: PSV Eindhoven 13; L. Warsaw 9; R. H. Tel Aviv 4; Bucharest 3.
Group G
Metalist Kharkiv vs Austria Vienna 4-1; Malmo vs AZ Alkmaar 0-0.
Standings: Metalist 13; AZ Alkmaar 7; Austria Vienna 5; Malmo 1.
Group H
Braga vs Birmingham City 1-0; Maribor vs Club Bruges 3-4.
Standings: Braga, Club Bruges 10; Birmingham City 7; Maribor 1.
Group I
Celtic vs Atletico Madrid 0-1; Stade Rennes vs Udinese 0-0.
Standings: A. Madrid 10; Udinese 8; Celtic 5; Stade Rennes 3.
Playing today
Group D
21.05 Vaslui vs Lazio; Sporting Lisbon vs Zurich.
Standings: S. Lisbon 9; Lazio, Vaslui 5; Zurich 2.
Group E
21.05 Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Besiktas; Stoke City vs Dynamo Kiev.
Standings: Stoke City 10; Besiktas 6; D. Kiev 5; Maccabi 1.
Group F
21.05 Salzburg vs Paris SG; Athletic Bilbao vs Slovan Bratislava.
Standings: A. Bilbao 10; Paris SG 7; Salzburg 4; S. Bratislava 1.
Group J
19.00 AEK Larnaca vs Maccabi Haifa; Schalke vs Steaua Bucharest.
Standings: Schalke 8; M. Haifa 6; S. Bucharest 5; AEK 2.
Group K
19.00 Twente vs Fulham; Odense vs Wisla Krakow.
Standings: Twente 10; Fulham 7; Odense, W. Krakow 3.
Group L
18.00 Lokomotiv Moscow vs Sturm Graz. 19.00 AEK Athens vs Anderlecht.
Standings: Anderlecht 12; Lok. Moscow 9; Sturm Graz 3; AEK 0.