Dinamo Moscow, Salzburg seal KO stage berths; Celtic draw Astra Giurgiu
A piece of Brazilian magic denied Celtic early qualification from the Europa League group stages as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Astra Giurgiu in Romania.
Celtic were heading for the Round of 16 following Stefan Johansen's brilliant strike 32 minutes into a game that looked set to be postponed amid poor visibility at the Marin Anastasovici Stadium. Stefan Scepovic missed a good chance to double Celtic's lead and Charlie Mulgrew saw a shot pushed on to the post two minutes before William Amorim equalized in the 79th minute.
The Brazilian curled home from a difficult position to find the brilliance that was needed to beat Craig Gordon.
Leigh Griffiths had a goal disallowed in the 83rd minute, which, with Salzburg beating Dinamo Zagreb, would have sent Celtic through but they remain in a strong position, five points ahead of the Croatians with two games left.
Dinamo Moscow and Salzburg made certain of their places in the Europa League knockout stages after wins on Thursday night, but Inter Milan must wait a little longer for their chance to secure progression.
Victory over St Etienne would have seen Inter book a top-half finish in Group F and they were put on the right track when Dodo notched before half-time. But the Nerazzurri failed to respond to Moustapha Bayal Sall's equalizer and had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Nikola Kalinic scored twice as Dnipro climbed up to second in the group with a 2-1 win at FK Qarabag.
The striker had the visitors ahead but Leroy George grabbed an equalizer before Kalinic netted his second to reignite Dnipro's hopes. Kevin Kuranyi fired Dinamo Moscow into the knockout stages as a 1-0 victory at home to Estoril maintained their 100 percent record in Group E.
PSV Eindhoven put themselves in a good position to follow Dinamo through with a battling 3-2 win away at Panathinaikos. Phillip Cocu's men trailed twice in Greece thanks to goals from Abdul Ajagun and Mladen Petric but each time the visitors came back with Memphis Depay, Luuk de Jong and Georginio Wijnaldum securing victory.
Jonathan Soriano hit a hat-trick as Salzburg roared into the last 32 with a 5-1 demolition of Dinamo Zagreb.
Soriano had the visitors in front at halftime and Kevin Kampl made it two soon after the break. Angelo Henriquez pulled one back a minute later, only for Soriano to score Salzburg's third minutes later, and the away side showed no mercy with further goals from Massimo Bruno and Soriano.
Borussia Monchengladbach moved above Villarreal to top Group A as goals from Raffael and Patrick Hermann sealed a 2-0 victory over Apollon Limassol.
FC Zurich edged a breathless 10-minute goal-rush to upset Villarreal 3-2 at the Stadion Letzigrund. The Spaniards led twice through Tomas Pina and Gerard Moreno but were pegged back by equalizers from Franck Etoundi and Berat Djimsiti before Yassine Chikhaoui claimed the winner for Zurich, with all five goals coming between the 20th and 30th minutes.
Lior Rafaelov plundered a first-half hat-trick as Club Brugge maintained their bid for a place in the knockout stages with a 4-0 rout of FC Copenhagen. Rafaelov struck three times inside 29 first-half minutes to hand the Belgians an unassailable lead, with Ruud Vormer cementing victory on the hour.
Club Brugge lead Group B ahead of Torino, whose chances of progressing to the next round were jeopardized by a 2-1 defeat away to HJK Helsinki. Gideon Baah and Vallteri Moren were the first-half scorers for the Finnish club, with Fabio Quagliarella's reply coming too late for Torino.
Tottenham also continued their march towards the knockout rounds with a 2-1 victory over Asteras Tripolis. Andros Townsend's first-half penalty and a Harry Kane header minutes later proved the difference, despite Jeronimo Barrales' late goal.
The win keeps Spurs level on eight points with Besiktas in Group C, with Demba Ba's second-half double sealing a 2-1 win for the Turkish club over Partizan Belgrade. Sasa Markovic netted Partizan's only reply, although substitute Danko Lazovic crashed a shot against the bar deep into injury time.
