Villa and Celtic fall on night of upsets

Galatasaray AŞ and Fenerbahçe SK both fell at the final hurdle, while Celtic FC and Aston Villa FC squandered advantages to lose their play-off ties and miss out on a place in Friday's UEFA Europa League group-stage draw.

Celtic were victims of perhaps the most unexpected comeback, Ricky van Wolfswinkel's hat-trick – the first two of which were penalties – earning FC Utrecht a 4-0 win in the Netherlands which came after last week's 2-0 defeat in Glasgow. "It was not only the 11 men on the pitch who were superb, but everyone around the team was incredible," said coach Ton du Chatinier.

Fellow Eredivisie side PSV Eindhoven were equally emphatic, recovering from FC Sibir Novosibirsk's late 1-0 win in Russia to triumph 5-1 on aggregate. Feyenoord, though, suffered a 2-0 defeat at KAA Gent which undid Mario Been's side's 1-0 win in the first instalment. "I'm very proud of the group and I think the fans are very satisfied with what we showed them," said Gent coach Francky Dury.

Galatasaray were another of the night's casualties, succumbing to FC Karpaty Lviv in dramatic style. The Ukrainian side had secured a 2-2 draw in Turkey but looked to be out when Aydın Yılmaz put Frank Rijkaard's charges in front on 91 minutes. Karpaty struck back, however, Artem Fedetskiy, who was subsequently dismissed, giving them the away-goals edge three minutes into added time. PAOK FC lost 1-0 to Fenerbahçe SK in normal time but Zlatan Muslimović's extra-time strike accounted for another of the Istanbul giants.

FC Lausanne-Sport of the Swiss second tier created another stir, eliminating FC Lokomotiv Moskva 4-3 on penalties after a second successive 1-1 draw with the Russian side. "We're a small team from the Swiss second division so getting into the Europa League is a big achievement for us," said Lausanne coach Martin Rueda.

Roy Hodgson's Liverpool FC had looked in danger of squandering last week's result when Teófilo Gutiérrez’s fourth-minute goal levelled the tie for Trabzonspor AŞ, but Giray Kaçar's own goal (83) and Dirk Kuyt's predatory finish assured their progress. "It's a very good victory because they beat Fenerbahçe on Monday," said Reds manager Roy Hodgson. "They don't lose at home and we've beaten them."

Manchester City FC, who themselves beat the Reds on Monday, rubber-stamped their path with a 2-0 win at home to FC Timişoara adding to last week's Mario Balotelli-inspired victory in Romania. There was a sense of déjà vu, though, for another Premier League outfit, Aston Villa FC, who missed a spot kick, went 2-1 up on the night and then 3-2 down in the space of nine minutes as they were eliminated at this stage by SK Rapid Wien for the second successive season.

Sporting Clube de Portugal produced the comeback of the night with a a 3-0 win in Denmark seeing them past Brøndby IF 3-2 on aggregate. "We showed great spirit," said Sporting coach Paulo Sérgio. "It was a memorable night in the club's rich history but we have higher goals now."

Big hitters Juventus and FC Porto are through having seen off SK Sturm Graz and KRC Genk respectively with minimal fuss, while Paris Saint-Germain FC survived a scare in Israel, losing 4-3 to Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC but winning by the odd goal in nine overall. FC Steaua Bucureşti and VfB Stuttgart also qualified.

Source: uefa.com