UEFA Cup Group Stage, Matchday # 5, Continued

And now, friends and neighbors, here's a rundown of UEFA Cup action as group stage play concluded on Thursday:

GROUP A:

At Glasgow:

Alan Hutton's 55th-minute goal was the only score of Rangers 1-0 home win over FK Partizan , locking up the top spot in Group A for the locals, while leaving the visitors from the Belgrade, Serbia with only one point in four matches.

At Auxerre, France:

Cristiano Lucarelli propelled visiting Livorno into the UEFA knockout stage with his 59th-minute tally in the Italian club 1-0 road win over AJ Auxerre.

GROUP B:

At London:

Jermain DeFoe tallied twice (39', 50') and Dimitar Berbatov once (16') as Tottenham Hotspur locked up the top spot in Group B with an easy 3-1 home victory over Dinamo Bucharest. Even with the setback, the visiting Red Dogs from Romania also reached the round of 32.

At Leverkusen, Germany:

Bernd Schneider (78') and Sergej Barbarez (87') provided the scoring punch as Bayer Leverkusen locked up a knockout stage berth with a 3-1 home win over Besiktas, knocking the visiting Turkish club out of European competition.

GROUP C:

At Braga, Portugal:

Joao Pinto (61') and Vitor Castanheira (90'+1) provided the goals and Sporting Braga provided more misery for Grasshoppers as they blanked the visitors 2-0 to secure a knockout-stage berth in the UEFA Cup. It was a horrendous group stage campaign for the men from Zurich. They and Austria Vienna were the only two teams in UEFA Cup group play that were unable to secure a single point.

At Seville, Spain:

Shota Arveladze twice tallied (62', 90'+3) to fuel AZ Alkmaar to a come-from-behind, 2-1 road victory over Sevilla to capture top spot in Group C. Both teams qualified for UEFA Cup knockout stage action.

GROUP D:

At Parma, Italy:

David Lopez scored twice (33', 44') to help guide Osasuna to a 3-0 win over hosts Parma (who already captured first place in Group D). The Spanish club joins Parma in the UEFA Cup's final 32.

At Heerenveen, Netherlands:

Afonso Alves scored the lone goal of the match (90'+3) as SC Heerenveen blanked visiting Lens 1-0. However, because of Osasuna's win at Parma, the hosts were eliminated from European competition while the French guests qualified for the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup.