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Friday, December 16, 2011

Football: Tottenham out of Europa League

Tottenham Hotspur's Jermain Defoe (R) is congratulated by Andros Townsend after scoring against Shamrock Rovers during their Europa League match at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton [1] Tottenham Hotspur's Jermain Defoe (R) is congratulated by Andros Townsend after scoring against Shamrock Rovers during their Europa League match at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton
Tottenham were eliminated from the Europa League despite beating Shamrock Rovers 4-0, as 10-man Rubin Kazan got the point they needed to reach the knockout stage.

Tottenham looked well set to advance when leading 3-0 in Dublin while the Russians trailed 1-0 at Group A leader PAOK.

Rubin also had goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov sent off for conceding a 16th-minute penalty scored by PAOK winger Vieirinha.

But Rubin levelled in the 48th through Paraguay forward Nelson Valdez and held on to draw 1-1.

That result made it academic when Harry Kane scored Tottenham's fourth in stoppage-time, adding to first-half goals from Steven Pienaar, Andros Townsend and Jermain Defoe.

Tottenham reached the Champions League quarterfinals last season, but paid the price for fielding under-strength teams in Europe's second-tier competition.

Standard Liege and Hannover go into Friday's last-32 draw from Group B, and PSV Eindhoven and Legia Warsaw had already progressed from Group C.

Liege got a 1-0 win at FC Copenhagen through Michy Batshuayi's 31st-minute goal, while Hannover won 3-1 against Vorskla Poltava after goals from Konstantin Rauch, Didier Konan Ya and Artur Sobiech.

PSV beat Rapid Bucharest 2-1 at home, and Legia lost 2-0 away to Hapoel Tel-Aviv.


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