UEFA Europa League 2011, Matchday 5: Fulham Fall To Twente, Athletic Bilbao And Stoke Go Through

Stoke City and Athletic Bilbao are through to the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League, while free-spending Paris Saint-Germain have left themselves with a tough situation. PSG lost to SV Salzburg, while Stoke City clinched a key draw and Bilbao won in an entertaining match.

PSG left Javier Pastore at home and started with Kevin Gameiro and Mahmadou Sahko on the bench. They eventually paid the price in a their 2-0 loss to Salzburg, meaning that PSG will have to win in their final match and keep their superior goal differential over their opponents from Matchday 5.

With their 1-1 draw against Dynamo Kiev, Stoke clinched a place in the knockout stages. They were five points ahead of Dynamo Kiev heading into the round and a loss would have put qualification in doubt. A Matthew Upson own goal in the first half put the result in doubt, but Kenwyne Jones snatched an 80th minute equalizer. Elsewhere, in the Basque Country, Athletic Bilbao clinched first in their group with a 2-1 win over Slovan Bratislava.

Scores

FC Vaslui 0-0 Lazio

Sporting Lisbon 2-0 FC Zurich

Maccabi Tel-Aviv 2-3 Besiktas

Stoke City 1-1 Dynamo Kiev

Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Slovan Bratislava

SV Salzburg 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain

FC Twente and Schalke 04 have both clinched places in the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League, thanks to their wins during Thursday's early round of matches. Fulham will now need a result of the final day of the competition to go through after suffering a heartbreaking loss.

The Cottagers were second best on the night against Twente, but it appeared as if they were going to sneak a point until the final minutes. Twente target man Marc Janko, putting in a short-range goal with an assist from Roberto Rosales. Elsewhere, Schalke 04 clinched a place in the knockout stages with a big 2-1 win away in Romania over Steaua Bucharest. Kyriakos Popadopoulos scored the opener, but Raul Rusescu stunned the Königsblauen with a spectacular equalizer. Schalke eventually found a winner through the legendary Raul, clinching a place in the next round.

Scores

AEK Larnaca 2-1 Maccabi Haifa

Schalke 04 2-1 Steaua Bucharest

FC Twente 1-0 Fulham

Odense BK 1-2 Wisla Krakow

Lokomotiv Moscow 3-1 SK Sturm Graz

AEK Athens 1-2 Anderlecht

Tottenham Hotspur aren't mathematically eliminated from the UEFA Europa League, but they might as well be. Following their 2-1 loss to PAOK Salonika at home, the North London club is all but out of the competition. They would need PAOK to defeat Rubin Kazan on the final day, then defeat Shamrock Rovers by multiple goals to make up for the large goal differential gap. With PAOK already through to the knockout stages, they're unlikely to give Rubin their best on the final day.

Spurs were battered at the start of the match, giving up two quick goals. They eventually found a way back into the match through a penalty and a straight red card for a handball off the line in the 39th minute. Luka Modric converted the penalty, but that would be the last of the scoring for Spurs as they failed to capitalize on their literally dozens of second half opportunities.

In Poland, PSV Eindhoven had no trouble with what was supposed to be a tough road match against Legia Warsaw. Michal Zewlakow scored an own goal in the 32nd minute to give PSV the lead, but things really went downhill in the 56th minute. That's when Legia keeper Dusan Kuciak was sent off for denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity, with Dries Mertens converting the penalty. Wonderkid Zakaria Labyad would add another goal, giving his team a 3-0 win.

Scores

Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 PAOK Salonika

Legia Warsaw 0-3 PSV Eindhoven

Standard Liege 2-0 Hannover 96

Vorskla 1-1 FC Copenhagen

Rapid Bucharest 1-3 Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Everything's gone according to plan in the first round of Wednesday fixtures in the UEFA Europa League, with all of the favored teams notching wins. Celtic have continued their poor run of form in the build-up to the second Old Firm Derby of the season, dropping their game against Atletico Madrid in a 1-0 loss at Parkhead. Arda Turan was the man who scored the goal with a great strike for Atletico.

In the other Group I match, Rennes and Udinese drew 0-0 in France. This means that Atletico Madrid are through to the next round, while Udinese will go through with a win or draw against Celtic in Fruili on the final day. Celtic need to win that difficult away match to progress.

Rubin Kazan did what was expected of them at home, defeating Shamrock Rovers 4-1 at home to stay top of Group A. Fighting for the second spot in that group in the late matches are Tottenham Hotspur and PAOK Salonika. Club Brugge and NK Maribor played the best match of the round, with Brugge coming from 3-0 down on the road to record a 4-3 win. Ryan Donk scored the winner in stoppage time as Brugge scored four times from the 73rd minute to the end of the match. They are now virtually through to the next round, up three points on Birmingham City with a far superior goal difference.

Scores

Rubin Kazan 4-1 Shamrock Rovers

Malmo FF 0-0 AZ Alkmaar

Metalist Kharkiv 4-1 Austria Vienna

Braga 1-0 Birmingham

NK Maribor 3-4 Club Brugge

Celtic 0-1 Atletico Madrid

Rennes 0-0 Udinese