Europa League: Spurs and Liverpool through to next stage
Harry Kane fires Tottenham into last 32, but Juergen Klopp rues another injury to Daniel Sturridge
Liverpool and Tottenham reached the Europa League last 32 on Thursday while Scottish interest in continental competition came to another sobering end when Celtic were knocked out.
Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool defeated Bordeaux 2-1 at Anfield having endured the worst possible start when injury-plagued England striker Daniel Sturridge’s comeback from a knee injury stalled when he hurt his foot in training.
Henri Saivet buried the resulting free-kick but Liverpool were level just five minutes later when James Milner scored from the penalty spot after Ludovic Sane fouled Christian Benteke.
Belgian star Benteke then hit what proved to be the winner in first-half injury time with a rasping right-footed drive.
On Sturridge’s latest setback, he added: “We have to wait for some things, it’s a fight again, we have to be prepared and we will be prepared.”
Harry Kane headed Tottenham into the last 32, the red-hot England striker’s ninth goal in six matches earning Spurs a 1-0 win at Azerbaijani champions Qarabag.
The North Londoners could probably have done without the 8,000-kilometre round trip to the Azerbaijan capital just three days before the visit of Chelsea to White Hart Lane.
Despite the imminent arrival of the ailing Premier League champions Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino fielded a strong side at Qarabag’s Azersun Arena in Baku.
The first hour was unforgettable, the game finally bursting into life when forward Son Heung-min smashed a shot from the edge of the box with the ball hitting the crossbar.
Shortly after Qarabag’s keeper Ibrahim Sehic edged Eric Dier’s angled shot wide.
Having sprung to life Tottenham looked the more likely to break the deadlock, and in the 78th minute they deservedly took the lead.
Christian Erikssen fired in their umpteenth corner from the left with in-form Kane flicking in Son’s header.
Scottish champions Celtic slumped to a 10th consecutive Europa League game without a win – a 2-1 loss at home to Ajax in Group A.
Callum McGregor had given Celtic a fourth-minute lead at Parkhead but Arkadiusz Milik levelled in the 21st minute for the Dutch side.
Celtic coach Ronny Deila pleaded for patience and that European success will come.
“We buy talent, players who can be Champions League players,” said the Norwegian.
“Nobody comes in and is a Champions League players the first game. You have to develop them through time and we are going to be ready next year, that is the message to all the fans.”
Elsewhere, Russian side Krasnodar ran out 1-0 winners over already-qualified Borussia Dortmund to go through from Group C.
Also through were Spaniards Villarreal courtesy of Viktoria Plzen’s 1-0 loss to Minsk.
Swiss champions Basel drew 2-2 with 10-man Fiorentina to go through from Group I while Sporting Lisbon boosted their prospects of escaping from Group H with a 4-2 win at Lokomotiv Moscow.
Lazio continued their Europa League campaign with 3-1 win over Dniepropetrovsk while Sporting Braga went through from Group F thanks to a last-minute winner in a 2-1 home win against Slovan Liberec.