UEFA Europa League, Matchday 6: Tottenham, Celtic Both Fail To Progress

Celtic needed a win to go through to the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League, and they nearly got it. Gary Hooper scored early for his side against Udinese and had a number of other chances, but Antonio Di Natale netted a goal of his own as Celtic came up just short in a 1-1 draw. The other spot in Group I was already decided, with Atletico Madrid going through.

In Group G, AZ Alkmaar did enough against Metalist Kharkiv in a 1-1 draw to join their Matchday 6 foes in the knockout stages. Things went according to plan in Group H, as Braga and Club Brugge held off Birmingham City to advance.

Tottenham Hotspur got close to finding the miracle they needed to advance to the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League, but came up just short. They needed a win, a PAOK win over Rubin Kazan, and results that helped them make up a five-goal deficit and tiebreakers. At halftime of the two games, PAOK was up 1-0 over ten-man Rubin, while Tottenham led Shamrock Rovers 3-0. Unfortunately for Spurs, things did not go their way in the next 45 minutes. Rubin Kazan found an equalizer, while they only scored one more goal in their match.

Elsewhere, the knockout stage places were set previously, but they played games anyway! Favorites Hannover 96 and PSV Eindhoven both notched wins.

Despite their many millions spent and a victory over Athletic Bilbao at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening, Paris Saint-Germain are out of the UEFA Europa League. They needed some help from Slovan Bratislava to go through to the knockout stages, but the Slovakian side fell at home to SV Salzburg, who go through ahead of PSG.

PSG’s failings will likely be the biggest story of the day, but there was one positive set of results for a big club. Lazio entered the day a doubt to go through, but thanks to a victory over Sporting Lisbon and FC Zurich’s victory over FC Vaslui, the Roman side has progressed through Group D.