Kane goal leads Tottenham into Europa League last-32
GENEVA (AP) - Liverpool, Tottenham and Schalke, all former winners of the UEFA Cup, advanced to the Europa League last-32 on Thursday.
Liverpool joined coach Jurgen Klopp's former club Borussia Dortmund in the knockout stages by beating Bordeaux 2-1 at Anfield in Group B.
Christian Benteke's impressive turn and shot in first-half stoppage-time secured victory after Liverpool trailed when goalkeeper Simone Mignolet was penalized for holding the ball too long. Henri Saivet scored for Bordeaux following a free-kick given near the penalty spot, though James Milner converted a penalty soon afterward to make it 1-1.
Tottenham's reward for making the 8,000-kilometer (5,000 mile) round trip to Azerbaijan was a 78th-minute goal from Harry Kane to beat Qarabag 1-0. It was the England forward's ninth goal in six games for his club.
Anderlecht won 2-0 at Monaco to rise from last in Group J to second. The Belgian club, which lost to Tottenham in the 1984 final, is now favored to qualify with the English team when the final round of group matches is played Dec. 10.
Schalke also scored late, in the 86th through Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, to beat APOEL 1-0. Sparta Prague also advanced with a 1-0 home win, against Asteras Tripolis.
Last season's beaten finalist Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk was eliminated by a 3-1 loss at Lazio, which has won Group G. Saint-Etienne also advanced by drawing 1-1 at Rosenborg.
Basel, which hosts the final in May, clinched top place in Group I by drawing 2-2 with Fiorentina which played for more than an hour with 10 men. The Italian club led 1-0 when defender Facundo Roncaglia struck Breel Embolo with an elbow to the face.
Still, Fiorentina got a second Federico Bernardeschi goal before Marek Suchy and Mohamed Elneny levelled for the Swiss champion.
Napoli has the only perfect record in the 12 groups, winning 1-0 at Bruges for its fifth straight victory. Midtjylland stays second in Group D despite losing 1-0 at Legia Warsaw.
Krasnodar beat Dortmund, which already clinched its last-32 place, 1-0 to join the Germans in the Dec. 14 draw.
Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal of Spain also advanced. Athletic won 3-2 at Augsburg and Villarreal benefited from Viktoria Plzen's 1-0 loss at Dinamo Minsk before later beating Rapid Vienna 1-0.
Sporting Lisbon gave perhaps the best performance, winning 4-2 at Lokomotiv Moscow which had been Group H leader. Besiktas now leads the group after beating visiting Skenderbeu 2-0.
Ajax eliminated Celtic by winning 2-1 in Scotland with an 88th-minute goal from 18-year-old Vaclav Cerny. However, Ajax stayed third in Group A because second-place Fenerbahce won 2-0 at Molde. The group leader from Norway has already qualified.
Braga advanced due its 2-1 home win over Slovan Liberec and Marseille's 2-1 win against visiting Groningen lifted the French side to second.