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On Thursday, the battles in the UEFA Cup tournament groups A, B, C, and D came to an end. After playing the last matches on Wednesday and determining the teams from groups E, F, G, and H, all 24 participants of the round of 16 are now clear. The draw for this round will take place on Friday. Eight more clubs that did not make it past the Champions League group stage will join these teams.
In the next stage, we will also see the team of Tomas Danilevicius, "Livorno." In decisive away matches, the Italians defeated "Auxerre" from France with a score of 1-0. Cristiano Lucarelli scored the winning goal. The Lithuanian appeared on the field in the 85th minute, replacing the goal scorer.
Only home wins allowed Leverkusen's "Bayer" and "Braga" to advance.
During the four group stage matches, the only teams to secure all wins were Barcelona's "Espanyol" and English club "Tottenham." Two other English clubs - "Blackburn" and "Newcastle," as well as Scottish "Rangers" and Dutch "AZ" - never stumbled.
In the round of 16, the group winners will face the teams that finished third, while the remaining second-place clubs will play against those knocked out of the Champions League. The draw will take place on Friday at 14:00 Lithuania time.
Thursday's match statistics:
Group A
"Auxerre" 0 - 1 "Livorno" 59‘ [0 - 1] Cristiano Lucarelli
Glasgow "Rangers" 1 - 0 Belgrade "Partizan" 55‘ [1 - 0] Alan Hutton
1. "Rangers" 4 3 1 0 8-4 10 2. "Maccabi" 4 2 1 1 5-4 7 3. "Livorno" 4 1 2 1 5-5 5 4. "Auxerre" 4 1 1 2 7-7 4 5. "Partizan" 4 0 1 3 2-7 1
Group B
Leverkusen's "Bayer" 2 - 1 Istanbul "Besiktas" 77‘ [1 - 0] Bernd Schneider 86‘ [2 - 0] Sergej Barbarez 90+1‘ [2 - 1] Ricardinho (pen.)
"Tottenham" 3 - 1 Bucharest "Dynamo" 16‘ [1 - 0] Dimitar Berbatov 39‘ [2 - 0] Jermain Defoe 50‘ [3 - 0] Jermain Defoe 90+1‘ [3 - 1] Jean Philippe Mencly
1. "Tottenham" 4 4 0 0 9-2 12 2. "Dinamo" 4 2 1 1 6-6 7 3. "Bayer" 4 1 1 2 4-5 4 4. "Besiktas" 4 1 0 3 4-7 3 5. "Brugge" 4 0 2 2 4-7 2
Group C
"Braga" 2 - 0 Zurich "Grasshoppers" 61‘ [1 - 0] Joao Pinto 90+1‘ [2 - 0] Vitor Ilidio Castanheira
"Sevilla" 1 - 2 Alkmaar "AZ" 52‘ [1 - 0] Ernesto Javier Chevanton (pen.) 62‘ [1 - 1] Shota Arveladze 90+3‘ [1 - 2] Shota Arveladze
1. "AZ" 4 3 1 0 12-5 10 2. "Sevilla" 4 2 1 1 7-2 7 3. "Braga" 4 2 0 2 6-5 6 4. "Liberec" 4 1 2 1 6-7 5 5. "Grasshoppers" 4 0 0 4 3-15 0
Group D
Heerenveen 1 - 0 Lens 90+3‘ [1 - 0] Alfonso Alves
Parma 0 - 3 Pamplona "Osasuna" 33‘ [0 - 1] Javad Nekounam 44‘ [0 - 2] David Lopez 83‘ [0 - 3] Juanfran
1. "Parma" 4 3 0 1 6-6 9 2. "Osasuna" 4 2 1 1 7-4 7 3. "Lens" 4 1 1 2 5-5 4 4. "Heerenveen" 4 1 1 2 2-4 4 5. "OB" 4 1 1 2 5-6 4
UEFA Cup round of 16 qualifiers
Group winners: "Blackburn," "Espanyol," "Newcastle," "Panathinaikos," "Parma," "Rangers," "Tottenham," "AZ."
Second places: "Ajax," "Nancy," "Celta," "P.S.G," "Maccabi," "Dinamo," "Sevilla," "Osasuna."
Third places: "Fenerbahce," "Feyenoord," "Hapoel," "Zulte-Waregem," "Livorno," "Bayer," "Braga," "Lens."
Teams from the Champions League: "AEK," "Benfica," "Bordeaux," "CSKA," "Shakhtar," "Spartak," "Steaua," "Werder."
