LONDON: Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were joined by Rangers as three British clubs secured their spots in the Europa League last-16 on the final round of group games on Thursday.
United, who like Tottenham have endured a disappointing Premier League season, won 2-0 at Romanian side FCSB to continue their recent upturn in form.
Second-half goals by Diogo Dalot and Kobbie Mainoo silenced a raucous home crowd at the National Arena in Bucharest as United finished third in the table behind Lazio and Athletic Bilbao.
“When you get to this stage of any competition, anything is possible and they can prove they can win against anybody,” United manager Ruben Amorim said.
Amorim’s side extended their recent improvement to one defeat in seven games in all competitions with a third successive victory for the first time this season.
United were patchy in the first half but Amorim sent on Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho at the break and they helped turn the tide.
United finally took the lead in the 60th minute when Mainoo guided a dangerous low cross into the six-yard box and Dalot timed his run to slot home with ease.
Daniel Birligea almost hauled FCSB level immediately with a thunderous strike that nearly crossed the line after hitting the bar.
But Mainoo’s composed finish from Garnacho’s cutback in the 68th minute put the result beyond doubt.
In north London, Tottenham eased to a 3-0 victory over Swedish side Elfsborg with youngsters Dane Scarlett, Damola Ajayi and Mikey Moore all netting their first goals for the club.
The victory saw Spurs finish fourth, although their joy was dampened slightly by an injury to defender Radu Dragusin.
“I’m sure those boys won’t sleep tonight, but we needed that. We needed some energy — we kind of designed the game today, we’re trying to protect some of our players, we’ve got a big week coming up, and we were going to need the young boys today, and they stood up,” under-pressure manager Ange Postecoglou said.
Tottenham are languishing in 15th place in the Premier League, eight points above the relegation zone after winning just one of their past 11 top-flight matches.
Last weekend’s defeat against fellow strugglers Leicester City condemned Tottenham to their longest winless streak in the league since 2008.
Postecoglou admitted he is not sure of his job status after fans jeered the team and called for chairman Daniel Levy to quit during the Leicester debacle.
Tottenham lost centre-back Dragusin to a knee problem as their injury woes mounted in the second half, but his replacement Scarlett ended Elfsborg’s resistance in the 70th minute.
Dejan Kulusevski’s cross picked out Scarlett and the 20-year-old striker headed home, just days after returning from a loan spell at second-tier Oxford.
Ajayi, 19, had only been on the pitch four minutes when he converted Scarlett’s pass to mark his debut in style in the 84th minute, and there was still time for Moore, 17, to strike in stoppage time.
Rangers began the evening outside the top eight but a 2-1 home victory against Belgians Union Saint-Gilloise and results elsewhere enabled them to jump into eighth place and avoid having to enter the knockout phase playoffs.
Nico Raskin headed the opening goal and Vaclav Cerny slotted a second for Rangers.
Lazio finished top of the rankings although they suffered a 1-0 defeat at Braga. Ricardo Horta’s sixth-minute goal proved enough for the Portuguese side although they bowed out after finishing 25th in the league.
Second-placed Athletic Bilbao beat Viktoria Plzen 3-1 with Nico Williams, Yeray Alvarez and Javier Marton on target.
AS Roma secured their place in the playoffs with a 2-0 home win over German side Eintracht Frankfurt who still reached the last-16 automatically by coming fifth.
Goals from Angelino and Eldor Shomurodov made sure Roma finished in 15th spot.
Olympique Lyonnais secured direct entry to the last 16 despite a lacklustre 1-1 home draw against already-eliminated Ludogorets.
Corentin Tolisso opened the scoring early in the second half after benefiting from a defensive blunder before Dinis Almeida levelled with 13 minutes left.
Greek side Olympiacos finished seventh to go directly to the last 16 after a resounding 3-0 win over Qarabag.
Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce scraped into the playoffs in 24th position with a 2-2 draw at Midtjylland proving just enough as other results went in their favour.
Former European champions Porto also flirted with elimination but a 1-0 win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv courtesy of a Nico Gonzalez goal helped them to 18th place and playoff.
Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2025
