Sport

Bad night for Scotland as Celtic and Rangers crash out

IN A BAD night for Scottish football both Celtic and Rangers crashed out of the Europa League.

Fri Aug 26 2011 - 01:00

IN A BAD night for Scottish football both Celtic and Rangers crashed out of the Europa League.

Daniel Majstorovic saw red as 10-man Celtic lost 3-1 in their play-off second-leg match against Swiss side Sion at the Stade de Tourbillon.

The tie was in the balance after a goalless first leg in Glasgow last week but that changed inside a minute when the Celtic defender brought down Guilherme Afonso inside the box.

Pascal Feindouno scored from the spot before adding a second after the break.

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Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew and Giovanni Sio swapped goals to see the Swiss side ultimately go through.

However, Celtic are looking for a red tape reprieve.

Sion have five players in their squad – Feindouno, Mario Mutsch and Gabri, Jose Goncalves and Billy Ketkeophomphone — who are, in the eyes of Fifa, ineligible to play in the competition.

Sion’s European squad, though, was approved by the Swiss FA who, along with the club, have reportedly been warned by Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino about possible sanctions although the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who will rule on the issue, will not pass their verdict next week.

Rangers went out of at the hands of Maribor at Ibrox. Carlos Bocanegra grabbed his first goal for his new club to cancel out Dalibor Volas’s opener, but Rangers could not find their way past the Slovenian side again and lost 3-2 on aggregate.

Tottenham took their place in the group stages after a 0-0 draw with Hearts. A week ago the gulf had been cavernous between the two sides as Tottenham rattled in five goals at Tynecastle.

Stoke cruised into the group stages as Kenwyne Jones helped them wrap up a comfortable 5-1 aggregate victory over FC Thun with a brace at the Britannia Stadium. Going into the game 1-0 up, Stoke soon extended their lead, scoring three times in the first half through headers from Matthew Upson and Jones and a drilled effort by Republic of Ireland international Glenn Whelan.

Fulham booked their place with a 3-1 aggregate win over Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, despite a 1-0 reversal in Ukraine.

Evgeniy Shakhov scored the only goal of the night from close range in the 22nd minute.

Birmingham saw off Portuguese side CD Nacional 3-0 to qualify. Following a goalless first leg in Madeira last week Birmingham struck twice in nine first-half minutes to take control.