Sevilla scrape into Europa 32

Sevilla got the draw they needed to progress to the next round [AFP]

Sevilla reached the last 32 in the Europa League after holding on for a 2-2 draw at home to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

The Spanish side joined PAOK Salonika and Napoli, who left it late to score the goal they needed, in securing three of the remaining berths in the knockout round ahead of Thursday’s final day of group matches.

Dortmund, who have a massive 11-point lead at the top of Germany’s Bundesliga, travelled to Spain needing a win to progress and after just four minutes they had looked on course for the next round.

Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa agve them the lead, but two goals from Ndri Romaric and Frederic Kanoute just after the half hour put the hosts ahead.

Dortmund levelled through Neven Subotic’s header on 49 minutes but it was not enough to secure a berth in the next round.

Sevilla, who won the competition in 2006 and 2007, finished as runners-up to Paris St Germain, who drew 1-1 with Karpaty Lviv, in Group J.

Injury-time winner

Napoli required an injury-time winner from Edinson Cavani to beat Steaua Bucharest 1-0 and make the final 32.

The Italians needed the win to overtake the Romanian side and join Liverpool in progressing from Group K.

The Uruguay forward had been denied on two occasions by goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu before he rose to head home Marek Hamsik’s corner in the third minute of stoppage time.

If Cavani had nott scored, it would have been the first time an Italian club had failed to qualify for the last 32 of the competition.

Five-time European Cup champions Liverpool, who had already qualified as group winners, left out most of their first-team regulars in a 0-0 home draw with FC Utrecht.

Dinamo dumped

Dinamo Zagreb started as favourites against Greece’s PAOK but also needed a win to progress.

Dimitris Salpingidis scored to knock Dinamo Zagreb out of the competition [Reuters]

They piled the pressure on in the first half, with Jorge Sammir coming closest to scoring when he hit the post with a free kick.

But the Croatian side conceded a goal on the counterattack in the 59th, when Stefanos Athanasiadis played in Dimitris Salpingidis, who shot left-footed low past Ivan Kelava from the edge of the area.

Spanish side Villarreal clinched first place in the group with 12 points thanks to Italy forward Guiseppe Rossi’s two goals in the 2-1 win at FC Brugge.

Dynamo Kiev drew 0-0 with Sheriff to finish a point clear of BATE Borisov at the top of Group E.

A win for BATE would have seen it leapfrog Dynamo but the team from Belarus lost 3-0 at AZ Alkmaar, with Kolbeinn Sigthorsson scoring in either half for the Dutch club.

Twenty-one sides have now advanced out of the group stage, and defending champion Atletico Madrid will be one of six teams battling for the final three qualifying places. Eight more teams will join the competition after finishing third in their Champions League groups.