PAOK, Sevilla and Napoli advance in Europa League

BERLIN - Greek club PAOK, Sevilla and Napoli Wednesday advanced to the knock-out stage of the Europa League.

PAOK managed to secure a 1-0 victory at Dinamo Zagreb in a Group D game, while Sevilla played to a 2-2 draw against Borussia Dortmund in their Group J match.

Napoli, meanwhile, scored a last-gasp goal three minutes into injury time through Edinson Cavani against Steaua Bucharest to go above the Romanian side in Group K to join the already-qualified Liverpool in the next round.

The Italian side had Paolo Cannavaro sent off for a second bookable offence seven minutes into injury time.

Liverpool, who fielded a second-string side for their match at home against Utrecht, drew 0-0 to top the group on 10 points, while the Romanian side finished on seven - two more than Napoli, who would have qualified for the next round with a victory.

Dortmund, who needed to win in Sevilla to go through, had a perfect start as Japanese sensation Shinji Kagawa gave them the lead after just four minutes.

Romaric equalised for the home side in the 31st minute and Mali international Frederic Kanoute put the Spaniards ahead just four minutes later.

Neven Subotic scored Dortmund’s second four minutes after the restart, but although the Bundesliga side went forward in search of a third goal, it was not to be and Sevilla was left cheering at the end.

The Dortmund players were angry with Russian referee Aleksey Nikolaev who allowed the Spanish players to get away with a lot of time wasting at the end.

“I think the referee was wrong to let the Sevilla players get away with so much time wasting at the end. It is very disappointing to have gone out after losing just one match,” Mats Hummels said.

Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp, whose side is the run-away leader in the Bundesliga, rushed on to the field after the game to prevent his players from challenging Nikolaev.

“I think if playing like that is the way to go, I do not want my side to learn that. We are still a young side with much to learn, but I do not think it is a way to play football,” he said.

Paris Saint-Germain made sure of topping the group with a 1-1 draw at Karpaty Lviv.

In Group L Porto had already made sure of first-place ahead of Turkish club Besiktas and both finished their group stage with victories Wednesday.

Besiktas beat Rapid Vienna 2-0 through goals by Ricardo Quaresma and Fabian Ernst, while Nicolas Otamendi, Ruben Micael and James Rodriguez gave Porto, who also had a Falcao penalty saved, a 3-1 victory against CSKA Sofia, for whom Spas Delev scored.

In Zagreb, Greek international striker Dimitrios Salpingidis scored on the hour to see PAOK finish second in Group D on 11 points - one behind Spanish club Villarreal who won 2-1 at Club Brugge.

In Group E Dynamo Kiev held on to first place although they were held to a goalless draw at home by FC Sheriff. Belarussian club BATE Borisov would have moved ahead of the team from the Ukraine had they beaten AZ Alkmaar, but they slumped to a 3-0 defeat in the Netherlands.

CSKA Moscow, who had already secured top spot in Group F from Sparta Prague ahead of their game in the Czech Republic, drew 1-1 in their final group game.

Midfielder Alan Dzagoev gave CSKA the lead after just 15 minutes, but 18-year-old Czech international Vaclav Kadlec equalized a minute from the break.

In Switzerland Serie A side Palermo managed a 1-0 win against Lausanne, but all the result did was take them to seven points - still two behind the second-placed Prague side.

The group stage will be finalised Thursday with 12 matches.

The top two sides from the 12 groups advance to the knock-out stage, where they are joined by eight third-placed teams from the Champions League groups.