Ben Sahar’s stoppage-time winner completed a stunning triumph for Hapoel Be’er Sheva, who came from behind to beat Internazionale 3-2 and dump the Italian side out of the Europa League, a result that left the rest of Group K wide open.
First-half goals from Mauro Icardi and Marcelo Brozovic put Inter in control in Israel, but Lúcio Maranhão gave Hapoel a second-half lifeline before Anthony Nwakaeme converted from the penalty spot after the Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic was sent off.
The result sends Inter out, while Hapoel will head to St Mary’s for a winner-takes-all match against Southampton, who lost 1-0 at Sparta Prague.
The League of Ireland side Dundalk still retain a chance of progress despite being beaten 1-0 at home by AZ Alkmaar. A goal from Wout Weghorst after nine minutes proved enough to win it, but Dundalk remain in with a chance of qualification. If they beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in their final group game and AZ do not beat Zenit St Petersburg, who have won the group already and who beat Maccabi 2-0 on Thursday, they will go through.
Anderlecht, St Etienne, Roma, Genk, Athletic Bilbao, Olympiacos, and Krasnodar all got the results they needed to go through on Thursday night.
Anderlecht beat the Group C whipping boys Gabala 3-1 in Baku, with Rashad Eyubov sent off late on for the hosts. Later, St Etienne’s goalless draw with Mainz was enough to send the Ligue 1 side through.
Athletic Bilbao and Genk both advanced from Group F with wins over Sassuolo and Rapid Vienna respectively. Raúl García and Aritz Aduriz helped Athletic come from behind to beat Sassuolo 3-2, while Nikos Karelis struck in a 1-0 Genk win.
Roma needed only to avoid defeat against Viktoria Plzen but Edin Dzeko scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win.
Austria Vienna missed the chance to follow them through in Group E as they lost 2-1 at home to Astra Giurgiu, with Constantin Budescu scoring an 88th-minute winner from the penalty spot.
A 1-1 draw with Young Boys was enough for Olympiakos, but Apoel Nicosia could not follow them out of Group B as they lost 2-1 to Astana, having played almost an hour with 10 men following Inaki Astiz’s dismissal. Astana got an 84th-minute winner from Djorde Despotovic.
A 1-1 draw with Salzburg was enough for Krasnodar thanks to Nice’s 2-0 loss to the Group I leaders Schalke. However, Krasnodar left it late, with Fedor Smolov cancelling out Munas Dabbur’s first-half strike with only five minutes remaining.
Several others passed up their opportunities.
A win for either Celta Vigo or Standard Liege in their head-to-head meeting would have sent the victors through from Group G, but it finished 1-1 after Kostas Laifis levelled for Standard with nine minutes left. Iago Aspas had struck for Celta eight minutes in, but he was sent off in stoppage time.
Ajax made sure of topping the group with a 2-0 victory over winless Panathinaikos, having handed European debuts to four teenagers and seen Kenny Tete score his first senior goal.
Braga also knew a win would suffice, but they were held to a 2-2 draw by Gent, with all four goals coming in the first half.
The Group H winners Shakhtar Donetsk enjoyed a 4-0 rout of Konyaspor.
Group L is still open too with only one point separating the leaders Osmanlispor from the other three in the group following Thursday’s results.
Steaua Bucharest beat the group leaders 2-1, while Villarreal were held to a 1-1 draw at FC Zurich, who levelled from the penalty spot in the 87th minute through Roberto Rodríguez.
PAOK’s stoppage-time goal muddied the picture in Group J. Fiorentina would have advanced with a draw but Garry Rodrigues struck in the third minute of time added on to deny them.
Liberec needed to win to stay in the competition and duly beat Qarabag 3-0, so all four teams have options going into the final match.
Fenerbahce’s comfortable 2-0 win over the 10 men of Zorya Lugansk kept the pressure on Manchester United, who responded with a 4-0 win over Feyenoord and moved into second place behind the Turkish club.
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