English Premier League duo Liverpool and Tottenham joined Newcastle in the next round of the Europa League with victories over their respective opponents in the final matchday of the group phase.
Liverpool needed a win to ensure progress into the knockout rounds, and they did just that thanks to a strike from Jordan Henderson. The midfielder scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win at Udinese, who had already been eliminated.
Spurs endured a few nervy minutes, before two late goals eased them through to a 3-1 win over Panathinaikos. Tottenham needed only a draw against the Greeks to ensure progress, and Emmanuel Adebayor seemingly sent them on their way with a strike in the 29th minute.
After having the majority of possession, Spurs finally turned it into a goal, when Clint Dempsey found Adebayor with a through ball. The former Arsenal and Manchester City striker made no mistake, coolly slotting it past goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis.
However, things did not exactly go according to plan after that as Panathinaikos, who needed a win to progress, despite barely seeing the ball, equalized ten minutes into the second half. Zeca headed the ball home off a cross from Spyropoulos to change the momentum of the game.
Nervousness was seeping into the Spurs team and the crowd at White Hart Lane, but those issues were settled with Spurs' second in the 76th minute. Clint Dempsey saw his header hit the underside off the crossbar and cannon off Karnezis and into the back of the net.
Jermain Defoe, then, got his customary goal for Spurs, calmly lifting the ball over the keeper after taking a pass from Aaron Lennon.
In Italy, Henderson was the hero as he finished off a nice Liverpool move, which also involved contributions from Suso and Luis Suarez. The Reds went through as winners of Group A, after Anzhi Makhachkala suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Swiss side Young Boys, which meant the Russian side finished second.
"We knew we had to come here and win tonight," Henderson said. "Udinese made it difficult for us. Overall, we have got to be pleased with the way we played and we are top of the group as well so we are delighted with that.
"(Antonio Di Natale) had a good chance to equalise and we were a bit fortunate with that ball but in the end we definitely deserved to win so we are happy. We knew they would make it difficult for us and would be up for it as they were at home.
"We are not going to look ahead to the draw, we are going to concentrate on the next game on Sunday at West Ham. It's definitely very important to qualify for the Europa League and to go through to the next round. We are delighted to do so, we just have to carry on and we look forward to it."
There were five qualifying spots remaining in the final matchday, and along with Liverpool and Spurs, Steaua Bucharest, Stuttgart and FC Basel also made it through.
Results: Maritimo 2-1 Club Brugge; Young Boys 3-1 Anzhi; Udinese 0-1 Liverpool; Plzen 1-0 Atletico; Bordeaux 2-0 Newcastle; Stuttgart 0-1 Molde; Copenhagen 1-1 Steaua; Napoli 1-3 PSV; H. Tel Aviv 2-0 Academica; AEL 3-0 Marseille; Fenerbahce 0-3 Monchengladbach; Dnipro 4-0 AIK; Tottenham 3-1 Panathinaikos; Genk 0-0 Basel; Internazionale 2-2 Neftci; Partizan 1-1 Rubin; Lyon 2-0 H. Kiryat Shmona; Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Sparta Praha; Maribor 1-4 Lazio; Rapid Wien 1-0 Metalist; Leverkusen 1-0 Rosenborg; Levante 2-2 Hannover; Twente 1-3 Helsingborg.
