Europa League: Group-Stage Play Concluded

Europa League group-stage play ended on Thursday with 24 games.

Group A:

At Monchengladbach, Germany:

Branimir Hrgota scored twice (59', 64') as Borussia Monchengladbach locked up top spot in Group A with a 3-0 home domination of FC Zurich.

At Nicosia, Cyprus:

Gerard Moreno Balaguero (35') and Luciano Vietto (40') each scored a goal as Villarreal clinched a berth in the knockout stage with a 2-0 road victory over Apollon Limassol.

FINAL GROUP A STANDINGS:

1. Borussia Monchengladbach (GP: 6; GD: +10; PTS: 12)
2. Villarreal (GP: 6; GD: +8; PTS: 11)
3. FC Zurich (GP: 6; GD: -4; PTS: 7)
4. Apollon Limassol (GP: 6; GD: -14; PTS: 3)

Borussia Monchengladbach and Villarreal advanced to the knockout stage.



Group B:

At Bruges, Belgium:

Lior Refaelov scored the winning goal in the 88th minute as Club Brugge laid claim to top spot in Group B with their 2-1 home win over HJK Helsinki, ending the Finnish club's European campaign.

At Copenhagen, Denmark:

Josef Martinez scored in the 15th and 47th minutes to carry Torino to a 5-1 road demolition of FC Copenhagen.  The Italian club will head to the Europa League's knockout stage.

FINAL GROUP B STANDINGS:

1. Club Brugge (GP: 6; GD: +8; PTS: 12)
2. Torino (GP: 6; GD: +6; PTS: 11)
3. HJK Helsinki (GP: 6; GD: -6; PTS: 6)
4. FC Copenhagen (GP: 6; GD: -8; PTS: 4)

Club Brugge and Torino advanced to the knockout stage.



Group C:

At Belgrade, Serbia:

In what was essentially a "who cares" match, Partizan Belgrade and visiting Asteras Tripoli battled to a 0-0 stalemate.

At Istanbul, Turkey:

Cenk Tosun scored the only goal of the match in the 59th minute as Besiktas knocked off visiting Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 to jump their English guests and win Group C.

FINAL GROUP C STANDINGS:

1. Besiktas (GP: 6; GD: +6; PTS: 12)
2. Tottenham Hotspur (GP: 6; GD: +5; PTS: 11)
3. Asteras Tripoli (GP: 6; GD: -3; PTS: 6)
4. Partizan Belgrade (GP: 6; GD: -8; PTS: 2)

Besiktas and Tottenham Hotspur advanced to the knockout stage.



Group D:

At Wals-Siezenheim, Austria:

Kevin Kampl (34', 90'+2) and Alan Carvalho (46', 70') each scored twice as FC Red Bull Salzburg, who already clinched top spot in Group D, demolished visiting FC Astra Giurgiu 5-1.

At Zagreb, Croatia:

Marko Pjaca delivered a hat trick (14', 40', 50') to carry already-eliminated Dinipro Zagreb to a 4-3 home victory over knockout-stage-bound Celtic.

FINAL GROUP D STANDINGS:

1. FC Red Bull Salzburg (GP: 6; GD: +13; PTS: 16)
2. Celtic (GP: 6; GD: -1; PTS: 8)
3. Dinamo Zagreb (GP: 6; GD: -3; PTS: 6)
4. FC Astra Giurgiu (GP: 6; GD: -9; PTS: 4)

FC Red Bull Salzburg and Celtic advanced to the knockout stage.



Group E:

At Eindhoven, Netherlands:

Aleksei Ionov scored the only goal of the match in  the 61st minute as Dynamo Moscow completed a perfect Europa League group-stage campaign with a 1-0 road win over PSV Eindhoven.

At Athens:

Kleber Laube Pinheiro's equalizer in the 87th minute lifted Estoril to a 1-1 road draw with Panathinaikos as both clubs' European campaigns came to an end.  Nikolaos Karelis scored in the 55th minute for the hosts.

GROUP E STANDINGS:

1. Dynamo Moscow (GP: 6; GD: +6; PTS: 18)
2. PSV Eindhoven (GP: 6; GD: 0; PTS: 8)
3. Estoril (GP: 6; GD: -1; PTS: 5)
4. Panathinaikos (GP: 6; GD: -5; PTS: 2)

Dynamo Moscow and PSV Eindhoven advanced to the knockout stage.



Group F:

At Kiev, Ukraine:

Artem Fedetskyi scored the only goal of the match in the 66th minute as FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk laid claim to a Europa League knockout-stage berth with a 1-0 victory over visiting Saint-Etienne, knocking the French club out of the tournament.

At Baku, Azerbaijan:

Inter Milan held hosts Qarabag FK to a controversal 0-0 stalemate, eliminating the Azerbaijani club from the tournament.  The homestanding Horsemen's Richard Almeida's apparent game winner in second-half stoppage time was disallowed as one of the assistant referees raised the offside flag.

FINAL GROUP F STANDINGS:

1. Inter Milan (GP: 6; GD: +4; PTS: 12)
2. FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (GP: 6; GD: -1; PTS: 7)
3. Qarabag FK (GP: 6; GD: -2; PTS: 6)
4. Saint-Etienne (GP: 6; GD: -1; PTS: 5)

Inter Milan and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk advanced to the group stage.



Group G:

At Liege, Belgium:

Jens Toornstra (16'), Jean-Paul Boetius (60'), and Elvis Manu (88') produced the goals that powered Feyenoord Rotterdam to a 3-0 road domination of Standard Liege as the Dutch club sewed up top spot in Group G.

At Seville, Spain:

Denis Suarez scored the only goal of the match in the 20th minute as Sevilla locked up a group-stage berth by eliminating visiting HNK Rijeka 1-0.

FINAL GROUP G STANDINGS:

1. Feyenoord Rotterdam (GP: 6; GD: +4; PTS: 12)
2. Sevilla (GP: 6; GD: +3; PTS: 11)
3. HNK Rijeka (GP: 6; GD: -1; PTS: 7)
4. Standard Liege (GP: 6; GD: -6; PTS: 4)

Feyenoord Rotterdam and Sevilla advanced to the knockout stage.



Group H:

At Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France:

Ricardo Rodriguez scored twice (65', PK-90') as VfL Wolfsburg locked up a berth in the knockout stage with a 3-0 road beatdown of LOSC Lille Metropole.

At Liverpool, England:

Ricardo Laborde scored the only goal of the match in the 30th minute as FC Krasnodar knocked off group-topping (and knockout-stage-bound) Everton 1-0.

FINAL GROUP H STANDINGS:

1. Everton (GP: 6; GD: +7; PTS: 11)
2. VfL Wolfsburg (GP: 6; GD: +4; PTS: 10)
3. FC Krasnodar (GP: 6; GD: -5; PTS: 6)
4. LOSC Lille Metropole (GP: 6; GD: -6; PTS: 4)

Everton and VfL Wolfsburg advanced to the knockout stage.



Group I:

At Bern, Switzerland:

Guillaume Hoarau (PK-76') and Renato Steffen (90'+4) delivered the late goals as BSC Young Boys blanked visiting Sparta Prague 2-0 and jumped the Czech club into second place an a berth in the knockout stage.

At Naples, Italy:

Dries Mertens (6'), Marek Hamsik (16'), and Duvan Zapata (75') each produced a goal as Napoli locked up top spot in Group I following their 3-0 domination of visiting FC Slovan Bratislava, who finished an abysmal Europa League campaign with six losses and only one goal (while giving up 20).

FINAL GROUP I STANDINGS:

1. Napoli (GP: 6; GD: +8; PTS: 13)
2. BSC Young Boys (GP: 6; GD: +6; PTS: 12)
3. Sparta Prague (GP: 6; GD: +5; PTS: 10)
4. FC Slovan Bratislava (GP: 6; GD: -19; PTS: 0)

Napoli and BSC Young Boys advanced to the knockout stage.



Group J:

At Bucharest, Romania:

Andriy Yarmolenko (71') and Jeremain Lens (90'+4) each scored a goal as Dynamo Kiev blanked Steaua Bucharest 2-0 on the road and ended the Romanian club's chances of advancing to the knockout stage.

At Vila do Conde, Portugal:

Yonathan Del Valle scored twice in the second half (59', 79') as Rio Ave blanked visiting Aalborg BK 2-0.  Despite the defeat, the Danish club still advanced to the knockout stage due to Steaua Bucharest's defeat to Dynamo Kiev.

FINAL GROUP J STANDINGS:

1. Dynamo Kiev (GP: 6; GD: +8; PTS: 15)
2. Aalborg BK (GP: 6; GD: -5; PTS: 9)
3. Steaua Bucharest (GP: 6; GD: +2; PTS: 7)
4. Rio Ave (GP: 6; GD: -5; PTS: 4)

Dynamo Kiev and Aalborg BK advanced to the knockout stage.



Group K:

At Thessaloniki, Greece:

Claudio Beauvue scored twice (7', 83') as Guingamp knocked off PAOK FC 2-1 on the road and knocked the Greek club out of the tournament and placed themselves in the Europa League's knockout stage.

At Florence, Italy:

Nemanja Nikolic scored the winning goal in the 55th minute as Dinamo Minsk concluded a disappointing Europa League campaign on a high note with a 2-1 road win over group winners Fiorentina, the first victory by a Belorussian club over Italian opposition.

GROUP K STANDINGS:

1. Fiorentina (GP: 6; GD: +7; PTS: 13)
2. Guingamp (GP: 6; GD: +1; PTS: 10)
3. PAOK FC (GP: 6; GD: 0; PTS: 7)
4. FC Dinamo Minsk (GP: 6; GD: -11; PTS: 4)

Fiorentina and Guingamp advanced to the knockout stage.



Group L:

At Lviv, Ukraine:

Mbaye Leye scored the only goal of the match in the 16th minute as Lokeren, already knocked out of the tournament, defeated FC Metalist Kharkiv 1-0 on the road.

At Warsaw, Poland:

In a battle of the group's two knockout-stage-bound clubs, Fatih Ozturk (OG-22') and Orlando Sa (56') provided the scoring as Legia Warsaw laid claim to top spot in Group L with their 2-0 home win over Trabzonspor.

FINAL GROUP L STANDINGS:

1. Legia Warsaw (GP: 6; GD: +5; PTS: 15)
2. Trabzonspor (GP: 6; GD: +2; PTS: 10)
3. Lokeren (GP: 6; GD: 0; PTS: 10)
4. FC Metalist Kharkiv (GP: 6; GD: -7; PTS: 0)

Legia Warsaw and Trabzonspor advanced to the knockout stage.