Liverpool and Manchester City have progressed to the group stages of the Europa League, while Celtic and Aston Villa have crashed out of the competition.
Results:
Trabzonspor 1-2 Liverpool (Liverpool win 3-1 on aggregate)
Manchester City 2-0 FC Timosoara (Manchester City win 3-0 on aggregate)
FC Utrecht 4-0 Celtic (FC Utrecht win 4-2 on aggregate)
Aston Villa 2-3 Rapid Vienna (Rapid Vienna win 4-3 on aggregate)
* * *
Liverpool fell behind to a goal from Teofilo Gutierrez after only four minutes of their clash with Trabzonspor in Turkey, but an own goal by Giray Kacar and a late goal from Dirk Kuyt sealed a 2-1 win for the Reds on the night and a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Manchester City eased through to the group stages of the competition with a 2-0 victory over Romanian side FC Timosoara.
City were comfortable throughout and goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Dedryck Boyata either side of half-time resulted in a 3-0 aggregate victory for Roberto Mancini’s side.
Celtic were eliminated from the Europa League after a heavy defeat at the hands of FC Utrecht in the Netherlands on Thursday evening.
The Hoops carried a 2-0 lead into the tie from the first leg but that advantage was cancelled out as early as the 20th minute after Ricky van Wolfswinkel converted two penalties for the Dutch side.
Van Wolfswinkel completed his hat-trick just after half time and Barry Maguire heaped further misery on Neil Lennon’s side with the fourth and final goal of the night after 63 minutes.
Aston Villa also exited the competition before the group stages after a 2-3 home defeat at the hands of Rapid Vienna.
Gabriel Agbonlahor put Villa in front after 22 minutes, a lead Villa held until Atdhe Nuhiu equalised for the visitors seven minutes after half-time.
Emile Heskey restored Villa’s lead in the 77th minute, only to see Mario Sonnleitner equalise a minute later.
Â
