JOAO PEDRO MADE sure Brighton avoided the inconvenience of a Europa League play-off as his superb strike made sure the Seagulls edged Marseille to the top of Group B with a 1-0 victory.
Brazilian Pedro crashed in an 89th-minute winner to continue Brighton’s dream first European campaign.
Ireland striker Evan Ferguson came on in the 64th minute of the game. He found a pocket of space in the box but the Irishman could not keep his shot down. Moments later Pedro notched his sixth goal of the competition with an emphatic finish from just inside the box into the top corner after collecting the ball from Gross.
Roberto De Zerbi, desperate to avoid an extra round, jumped into a section of the home fans to the side of his technical areas as the Amex erupted.
The 1993 European Cup winners, Marseille, struck the post and the bar through Jonathan Clauss and Amine Harit – and they will now face one of the Champions League third-placed finishers – Galatasaray, Lens, Braga, Benfica, Feyenoord, AC Milan, Young Boys or Shakhtar Donetsk – while Brighton skip straight to the last 16.
West Ham qualified directly for the last 16 of the Europe League after a convincing 2-0 win over Freiburg at London Stadium saw them finish top of Group A.
Mohammed Kudus opened the scoring in 14th minute before Edson Alvarez’s strike just before half-time confirmed victory for the Hammers, who had started the match level on 12 points with their German opponents in the race for top spot.
David Moyes’ men bounced back after last weekend’s 5-0 Premier League mauling at Fulham to earn a seeded position in the knockout stages and avoid a play-off.
Kemar Roofe’s late goal earned Rangers a memorable 3-2 win against Real Betis to send the Light Blues into the Europa League knockout stages.
Roofe turned the ball home from close range as Rangers put the pressure on from a 78th-minute corner to clinch top spot in Group C.
The Light Blues inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Spaniards in Seville as Roofe’s second goal of the season saw them jump above Sparta Prague from third place and send Betis into the Conference League.
Abdallah Sima and Cyriel Dessers had each put Rangers ahead in a thrilling first half but Betis were level before the break and had chances to go ahead only to slip from top spot to third.
Nicolo Zaniolo’s first goal for Aston Villa helped them seal their place in the Europa Conference League’s last 16 after a 1-1 draw against Zrinjski Mostar.
Zaniolo gave a much-changed Villa the lead in Bosnia and Herzegovina just after the hour-mark before Matija Malekinusic fired a spectacular equaliser for the hosts in the closing stages.
The point was enough to ensure Villa finished top of Group E ahead of Legia Warsaw to avoid two play-off matches and progress straight into the knockout stages, but it was far from convincing by Unai Emery’s side.
Goalkeeper Filip Marschall was handed his Villa debut and Jacob Ramsey made his first start in five months as Emery made eight changes from Saturday’s win against Arsenal.
After 57 minutes, Emery sent on John McGinn and Lucas Digne for Ramsey and Alex Moreno respectively.
McGinn made an instant impact, injecting some urgency and whipping in a cross for on-loan Galatasaray midfielder Zaniolo to neatly control before tucking the ball under Maric from six yards.
However, Malekinusic punished Villa for not putting the result beyond doubt by thundering home a 25-yard equaliser in the 87th minute, but Emery’s side held on for the point they needed.
Aberdeen gave themselves a pre-Hampden boost by shocking Eintracht Frankfurt in a 2-0 victory at Pittodrie.
Goals from Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes and Ester Sokler gave the Dons their first win in the Europa Conference League as they finished Group G in third place on six points.
Duk slid in to score from close range just before the interval and Sokler sent a stunning lob past substitute keeper Jens Grahl with 15 minutes to go to net his second goal for the club.
The win stretched Aberdeen’s unbeaten home run against German sides in European competition to 10 matches and will send Barry Robson’s side into Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final against Rangers on a high.
