London: Five-time European champion Liverpool and Spanish power Villarreal were two of the six teams to qualify for the knockout stage of the Europa League on Thursday.
A 1-1 draw at Steaua Bucharest ensured fallen English giant Liverpool will finish as winners of Group K, and Italy forward Guiseppe Rossi scored twice for Villarreal in its 3-0 home win over Dinamo Zagreb that guaranteed it a top-two finish from Group D.
Guillaume Hoarau's brace helped Paris Saint-Germain advance with a 4-2 win against Sevilla, and Besiktas won 2-1 at CSKA Sofia to join FC Porto in qualifying from Group L, knocking out the Bulgarian club in the process.
Dynamo Kiev, which routed already-qualified BATE Borisov 4-1 in Group E, and Sparta Prague, which drew 2-2 at nine-man Palermo in Group F, were the other teams to go through in Europe's second-tier club competition.
Eighteen sides have progressed from their groups in the Europa League. Six more will do so after the last round of pool matches in two weeks' time.
Spartak Moscow, FC Twente and Rangers will be among the eight sides to drop into the competition from the Champions League.
Liverpool, one of three teams to have won this competition three times, remained unbeaten in its group but was not convincing in the Romanian capital.
Manager Roy Hodgson filled his side with a mix of reserve-team players and youngsters, and saw Serbia forward Milan Jovanovic put the Reds ahead with a 19th-minute header from Ryan Babel's cross.
Jose Reina's mistake brought Steaua back into the match, the Spain goalkeeper allowing a tame header by Eder Bonfim to squirm through his legs in the 61st.
Reina claimed Romeo Surdu, who was standing in front of him to obscure his view of the ball, should have been flagged offside but accepted his share of the blame.
"It's my mistake," Reina said. "He was obstructing me but I should have done better than I did, I accept that.
"We got through as the top (side) of the group so we are happy. There were players out there without much experience and I thought we defended well."
Edinson Cavani, the joint top goalscorer in Serie A, scored a hat trick to earn Napoli a point in a 3-3 draw in Utrecht that preserves both teams' chances of going through.
They are both two points behind Steaua ahead of the last matchday.
Villarreal, which is third in the Spanish league behind Barcelona and Real Madrid, is sure of a top-two finish thanks to its win over Dinamo and Club Brugge's 1-1 draw with PAOK.
Rossi scored a penalty in the 25th, assisted Marco Ruben in the 64th and wrapped up the result in the 80th, with Dinamo ending the game with 10 men following Igor Boscan's sending-off for a deliberate handball.
PAOK is a point ahead of Dinamo, with the teams meeting in a fortnight to decide second spot.
Hoarau scored in either half for PSG while Brazilian winger Nene set up two and found the net moments before the interval to take his tally for the season to 12 goals. Mathieu Bodmer was the hosts' other scorer.
Frederic Kanoute had scored twice in quick succession to level for Sevilla, which is now just a point clear of third-place Borussia Dortmund. The German club beat Karpaty Lviv 3-0 to stay alive in the competition.
Besiktas knew a win in Sofia would see them through to the last 32, and goals by Czech defender Tomas Zapotocny and Slovakia striker Filip Holosko earned their side three points.
Colombia forward Falcao hit a hat trick, two goals coming in the final four minutes, as already-qualified Porto beat Rapid Vienna 3-1 to guarantee top spot in Group L.
Ognjen Vukojevic and Andriy Yarmolenko scored in the first half while Oleg Gusev and Artem Milevsky netted after the break as Dynamo Kiev eased past BATE to join the Belarusian side on 10 points. The other two sides in the group — FC Sheriff and AZ Alkmaar — drew 1-1 but were both eliminated.
Palermo had to beat Sparta to stay in the hunt for a top-two place in Group F but it was pegged back twice by the Czech visitors, with Juraj Kucka's 62nd-minute goal ultimately earning a draw. Dorin Goian and Javier Pastore were shown second-half red cards for Palermo.
CSKA Moscow, the winner of the competition in 2005 when it was called the UEFA Cup, thrashed Lausanne 5-1 at home to secure top spot in the group. Tomas Necid scored in either half for the Russian team, which is seven points clear of Sparta.
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