London, Dec 4: AC Milan came from two goals down to beat Celtic 4-2 and qualify for the Europa League’s knockout stage, while Tottenham advanced despite giving up a late equalizer.
Gareth Bale scored his first Europa League goal since returning to Tottenham from Real Madrid in the London club’s 3-3 draw at Austria’s LASK, which was enough to advance from Group J.
Another 12 teams made it through as Braga, Lille, Villarreal, Royal Antwerp, Dinamo Zagreb, Red Star Belgrade, Leverkusen, Slavia Prague, Rangers, Benfica, Granada and PSV Eindhoven all advanced with a game to spare. Fans returned to a European football game in England for the first time since March when Arsenal hosted Rapid Vienna.
Arsenal hasn’t won a Premier League game since Nov. 1 but is the last team to keep a perfect record in Europe’s second-tier competitions after a 4-1 victory.
Spanish league leader Real Sociedad was held to a surprise 2-2 home draw by the already eliminated Rijeka. Celtic used an early scoring burst to take a 2-0 lead at San Siro but Milan came back almost immediately with two goals in two minutes.
Tom Rogic capitalized on a mistake by Rade Krunic to fire home the opening goal in the seventh minute after Celtic’s first attacking move. Tottenham needed just a point to advance but went 1-0 down in the first half through Peter Michorl’s strike from 25 meters (yards). Bale got the equalizer by sending goalkeeper Alexander Schlager the wrong way from the penalty spot and the Premier League leader took the lead after Tanguy Ndombélé set up Son Heung-min for the second early in the second half.
LASK came back twice, though, first through Johannes Eggestein and then — after Dele Alli had netted another penalty for Spurs — with Mamoudou Karamoko’s equalizer in stoppage time. Royal Antwerp beat Ludogorets 3-1 at home to top Group J on 12 points, with Tottenham on 10. Captain Alexandre Lacazette set the tone for Arsenal 10 minutes into the game, unleashing a swerving long-range shot with his right foot that sailed into the net. Pablo Mari rose high to head in the second off a corner kick seven minutes later for his first goal for Arsenal.
Vitor Tormena and Ricardo Esgaio scored in a two-minute span early in the first half to help Braga to a 4-2 win at AEK Athens and secure advancement.
Spanish club Granada advanced despite a 1-0 home loss to PSV, a result which also put the Dutch team through. Granada has 10 points in Group E, one ahead of PSV. (PTI)
