UEFA Europa League: Late games recap

Rubin Kazan, Inter Milan, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Metalist Kharkiv, and Hannover all sealed qualification to the Europa League knockout stages on Thursday. Also, Jermain Defoe scored a hattrick.

Group G

FC Basel 1 - 0 Videoton FC Fehervar

Mladen Bozovic kept them out for 80 minutes, but Basel finally got their first win of their year's Europa League campaign with a Marco Streller goal ten minutes from time. The Swiss remain in third place, but they've now closed the gap on Videoton and Genk atop Group G

Sporting Lisbon 1 - 1 Racing Genk

10-man Sporting nearly pulled off a surprise win in Portugal, but a last-gasp goal from Glynor Plet saw Genk rescue a point. It should have been easy for the Belgians after Stijn Schaars was dismissed in the 58th minute, but Ricky van Wolfswinkel gave the hosts a lead less than ten minutes later when he converted Diego Capel's cross. Ultimately, the Sporting's slender advantage was not enough, and Genk put more distance between themselves and Videoton in the race for Group G's top spot.

Group H

Neftchi 0 - 1 FK Rubin Kazan

Rubin Kazan guaranteed themselves a place in the knockout rounds with a 1-0 win in Azerbaijan, Bebras Natcho providing a 16th-minute assist to Vladimir Dyadyun to ensure that the Russians remain tied with Inter Milan, both nine points about the Group H trailers.

Partizan Belgrade 1 - 3 Inter Milan

Inter Milan reeled off their tenth straight away win by demolishing Partizan in Belgrade, opening up a 3-0 lead before Nemanja Tomic's injury-time consolation at least gave the home fans something to smile about.

Group I

Athletic Bilbao 2 - 3 Lyon

Athletic Bilbao dug themselves a big hole by going 2-0 down against Lyon before staging a stirring comeback via Ander Herrera and an Aritz Aduriz penalty. Then they conceded again to a bullet of a shot from Alexandre Lacazette and lost 3-2. This sort of thing is the reason they're at the bottom of Group I. Lyon remain perfect.

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 1 - 1 Sparta Prague

Sparta Prague had a chance to guarantee qualification from the group but were held to a 1-1 draw by Hapoel Kiryat Shmona in Isreal. Darko Tasevski put the hosts ahead before Leonard Kweuke earned a draw for the Czechs with a goal in the 24th minute.

Group J

Lazio 3 - 0 Panathinaikos

Lazio remained in first place in Group J with an easy 3-0 win over Panathinaikos, with Libor Kozak notching a brace before halftime before Sergio Floccari killed off the visitors with a 58th-minute header.

Tottenham Hotspur 3 - 1 NK Maribor

Jermain Defoe had a hattrick. Gareth Bale was awesome. Hugo Lloris did a lol. Tottenham Hotspur earned their first Europa League win of the season. They are now in second place in Group J.

Group K

Bayer Leverkusen 3 - 0 Rapid Vienna

Top-of-the-group Bayer Leverkusen versus zero-points-from-nine Rapid Vienna. In Germany. Yep, it turned out exactly as one might expect, with goals from Jens Hegeler, Andre Schurrle and Manuel Friedrich ensuring a 3-0 Bayer win.

FC Metalist Kharkiv 3 - 1 Rosenborg

Metalist Kharkiv left it a little late against Rosenborg, but a 70th minute strike from Cleiton broke a 1-1 deadlock before Juan Manuel Torres secured qualification for the Ukrainians in injury time.

Group L

Hannover 96 3 - 2 Helsingborg

Hannover took the points in a bizarre match that saw Helsingborg come back from two goals down then get two men sent off in the last three minutes and give up a penalty for the eventual loss. Mame Biram Diouf's brace saw the hosts well in charge of the game, but goals from Nikola Djurdjic and Alejandro Bedoya saw the Swedes back on level footing. Then, in the 87th minute, Mattias Lindstrom fouled Artur Sobiech in the box, Peter Larsson and Walid Atta were sent off for dissent, and Sszabolcs Huszti stuck the spot kick away four minutes later to hand the Germans a 3-2 win, once that seals their qualification for the knockout rounds.

Twente Enschede 0 - 0 Levante

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.