By ADAM TROXTELL
Only league position will keep Liverpool in Europe now.
The Reds were knocked out by Besiktas on penalties, 5-4, after the Turkish side tied up the round of 32 match 1-1 on aggregate in Thursday’s second leg. Dejan Lovren missed the final penalty for Liverpool when he sent his shot over the bar.
Entering the second leg with a 1-0 lead, Liverpool was aware of the need to take quick advantage away from home. All nine of the Reds’ shots on goal were sent away by Cenk Gonen in goal as Besiktas worked toward a lead.
Tolgay Arslan gave it to them in the 73rd minute. Demba Ba picked up a loose ball in the Liverpool box before setting up Arslan to finish inside the left post.
Ba hit the bar with under 10 minutes to go, and extra time became imminent. When 120 minutes wasn’t enough, the former Chelsea man, along with Gokhan Tore, Veli Kavlak, Atiba Hutchinson and Tolgay Arslan put away their penalties.
Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Emre Can and Joe Allen kept pace for Liverpool, but Lovren skied his shot. Now the Reds have to fight for fourth place in the English Premier League to qualify for the UEFA Champions League once again.
Here is a full recap of Thursday’s Europa League action:
EVERTON EASES INTO ROUND OF 16
The Blue half of Liverpool had a much more enjoyable time on Thursday, beating Switzerland’s Young Boys, 3-1, on the night and 7-2 on aggregate.
After picking up a hat-trick in the first leg last week, Romelu Lukaku continued his good form in Europe. The Belgian converted a penalty to draw Everton level and gave them the lead from Luke Garbutt’s cross in the 30th minute.
Lukaku’s countryman, Kevin Mirallas, added the third goal three minutes before halftime with a low finish. Darron Gibson had a hand in both of Everton’s goals from open play to cap a solid night for the Irish midfielder.
Though possession was evenly shared, Everton was constantly looking to attack and produced eight shots on target compared to just one from Young Boys. It gave them a brief lead in the 13th minute thanks to Sekou Junior Sanogo.
FIORENTINA SENDS TOTTENHAM OUT
Fiorentina did not need an away goal to send Tottenham out of Europe.
The Viola won 2-0 in the home leg against their North London counterparts to take the round of 32 match-up 3-1 on aggregate. Former Chelsea striker Mohamed Salah came back to haunt Tottenham with his decisive goal in the 71st minute.
Salah was played in on goal by a give-and-go with striking partner Mario Gomez before slotting the ball past a frustrated Hugo Lloris. The Tottenham defense was easily carved open, and it wasn’t for the first time.
Gomez opened the scoring in the 54th minute when Federico Fazio sent a poor back pass toward goal. Milan Badelj picked up the lose ball before finding Gomez one-on-one with Lloris.
Tottenham bossed possession, but was stifled by a well organized Fiorentina defense and only put two shots on goal.
ROMA FIRES PAST TEN-MAN FEYENOORD
Roma left the De Kulp stadium with a 3-2 aggregate win, but not without a fight.
Two red cards were shown to Feyenoord players, one of which was on the bench at the time, during the Dutch side’s 2-1 defeat in the round of 32 second leg match. Feyenoord’s Mitchell te Vrede was sent off for a reckless tackle in the 52nd minute, prompting a delay after home fans threw objects on pitch
Elvis Manu’s 57th minute goal came after and made everything all square after Adem Ljajic opened the scoring for Roma just before halftime. But three minutes after Manu handed Feyenoord a lifeline, Gervinho cut it lose with a close-range strike.
Erwin Mulder, Feyenoord’s substitute goalkeeper, found a way to get involved in the game when he was shown a red card for an off-the-ball incident.
Here are all the results from Thursday’s Europa League action:
Dinamo Moscow 3, Anderlect 1 (3-1 aggregate)
Zenit St. Petersburg 3, PSV 0 (4-0 aggregate)
Besiktas 1, Liverpool 0 (5-4 on penalties, 1-1 aggregate)
Borussia M’gladbach 2, Sevilla 3 (2-4 aggregate)
Firoentina 2, Tottehnam 0 (3-1 aggregate)
Inter Milan 1, Celtic 0 (4-3 aggregate)
Legia Warsaw 0, Ajax 3
Red Bull Salzburg 1, Villarreal 3 (2-5 aggregate)
Athletic Bilbao 2, Torino 3 (4-5 aggregate)
Club Brugge 3, Aalborg (6-1 aggregate)
Everton 3, Young Boys 1 (7-2 aggregate)
Feyenoord 1, Roma 2 (2-3 aggregate)
Olympiakos 2, Dnipro 2 (2-4 aggregate)
Sporting Lisbon 0, Wolfsburg 0 (0-2 aggregate)
Napoli 1, Trabzonspor 0 (5-0 aggregate)
Good to see red bull Salzburg eliminated.
Nicely done by all the Italian teams! Serie A is definitely not what it used to be, but it’s still one of the deepest leagues, with the top 8-10 teams all quality.