Soccer:Europa League round-up: Daniel Majstorovic saw red as 10-man Celtic crashed out of the Europa League with a depressing play-off second-leg defeat 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 Hoops defender brought down Guilherme Afonso inside the box. After Majstorovic had walked, Pascal Feindouno scored from the spot and from then on Celtic were fighting an uphill battle they never looked like winning.
Feindouno added a second after the break with Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew and Giovanni Sio swapping goals late in the game as the home side ran out 3-1 aggregate winners.
Celtic have now won only one out of their last 30 games away from home in Europe and did not give themselves much of a chance in this one, but nevertheless the spotlight will swing onto Neil Lennon who admitted his credibility was on the line ahead of this game.
In his first European foray as permanent boss last season the Irishman’s side lost to Braga and FC Utrecht in their respective Champions League and Europa League qualifiers but no doubt he will point the finger at Majstorovic for his contribution.
Rangers also bowed out at the hands of Maribor at Ibrox on what was a bitterly disappointing night for Scottish clubs in Europe. Carlos Bocanegra grabbed his first goal for his new club to cancel out Dalibor Volas’ opener, but Rangers could not find a second goal to at least force the tie to extra-time.
They exited the tournament with a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate defeat, while Celtic suffered a similar fate against Sion and Hearts went out against Tottenham.
Tottenham secured their after a goalless draw against a much-improved Hearts side at White Hart Lane. Spurs, who won last week’s first leg 5-0 in Edinburgh, had a chance to open the scoring on the night when they won a penalty in the first half, but debutant Harry Kane had his spot-kick saved by Jamie MacDonald.
A Roman Pavlyuchenko first-half effort aside, Harry Redknapp’s inexperienced side never looked like scoring and Hearts were unlucky not to win the game, with Gordon Smith coming closest to breaking the deadlock with a 12th-minute effort that hit the bar.
Martin Jol’s Fulham booked their place in the group stage with a 3-1 aggregate win over Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, despite a 1-0 reversal in Ukraine tonight.
Evgeniy Shakhov scored the only goal of the night from close range in the 22nd minute but despite making Cottagers keeper Mark Schwarzer work overtime the home side could not get back in the tie.
Stoke cruised through as Kenwyne Jones helped them wrap up a comfortable 5-1 aggregate victory over FC Thun with a brace in tonight’s 4-1 win at the Britannia Stadium.
Going into the game 1-0 up from last Thursday’s initial meeting in Switzerland, the Potters soon extended their lead, scoring three times in the first half through headers from Matthew Upson and Jones and a drilled effort by Glenn Whelan.
Jones crashed home his second with just under 20 minutes to go before substitute Andreas Wittwer netted a consolation for Thun.
Birmingham registered one of the great achievements in the club’s history as they saw off Portuguese side CD Nacional 3-0 to qualify for the group stages.
The club’s League Cup success over Arsenal at Wembley in February — only their second major honour — ensured Blues qualified for Europe by merit and not invitation for the first time.
And with European football back at St Andrew’s after a 50-year absence, Chris Hughton’s second-tier side thrived amid a near-capacity crowd in the play-off second leg to take their place in tomorrow’s draw.
