Europa League

In Thursday's round of qualifying matches the cream of Europe's major leagues went through the final elimination round to secure their spots in Friday's group stage draw.

Berlin and Hamburg both played their way to convincing victories on home soil, while Bremen romped to a 2-0 away victory against Khazakstan's Aktobe.

Both Bremen's goals came from the boot of Peruvian powerhouse Claudio Pizarro.

German Cup holders Bremen held a 6-3 lead from the first leg and cruised to a comfortable 8-3 aggregate win thanks to Pizarro's strikes in the 10th and 45th minutes.

"The goal to put us in front was important," said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf.

"It was a positive experience for us and took away hope from Aktobe."

Hertha Berlin, confident at home, easily dispatched Copenhagen side Brondby by a crucial margin of 3-1, making up for their earlier away loss.

The result allowed them to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate.

French side Guingamp succumbed 3-1 to Hamburg, allowing the German side to advance to the group stage.

"It's nice that we are playing well now but we still have a lot more to do," said Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia.

Zenit and Aston Villa fail to make the cut

The major upsets of the elimination rounds saw Zenit St Petersburg and Aston Villa both miss out on qualification for the group stages, while Dynamo Moscow went down to CSKA Sofia 2-1.

The 2008 UEFA Cup winners Zenit faced a struggle to stay in the frame after losing to Portuguese outfit Nacional 4-3 in last week's first leg and could only manage a 1-1 draw. They go out 5-4 on aggregate.

Fatih Tekke put Zenit in front in the 34th minute but an equalizer a minute from time from Ruben Micael sees Nacional's name go into the hat for the draw in Monaco.

Villa trailed by a single goal to Rapid Vienna but went two goals up at Villa Park thanks to a James Milner penalty and a strike from Norway striker John Carew.

However, Nikica Jelavic struck 12 minutes from time to level the tie at 2-2 to send the Austrians into the group stage on the away goals rule.

Everton and Fulham scrape in

English Premier League side Fulham also progressed despite going down 1-0 to Russian side Amkar Perm. Fulham suffered a serious scare against Perm before prevailing 3-2 on aggregate after being outplayed by the home side for most of the match.

Everton join Fulham in the group stages after playing out a 1-1 draw with Sigma Olomouc to progress 5-1 on aggregate. Holding a 4-0 lead from the first leg, the Toffees went in front against the Czech side through Steven Pienaar but Pavel Sultes equalized for the home side with a low shot.

In other matches, Twente Enschede progress 3-1 on aggregate after a 0-0 draw with FK Karabakh, Hapoel Tel Aviv progress 3-2 on aggregate after playing out a 1-1 draw with Teplice.

Ajax Amsterdam followed up on their 5-0 first-leg drubbing of Slovan Bratislava with a 2-1 win to prevail 7-1 on aggregate while a scoreless draw against PAOK Saloniki was enough to see Heerenveen make the group stages on the away goals rule. Valencia defeated Stabaek 4-1 to complete a 7-1 aggregate win.

AS Roma trounced Kosice 7-1 to go through 10-4 on aggregate, Villarreal progress 9-2 courtesy of a 6-1 drubbing of NAC Breda.

UEFA Cup title-holders Shakhtar Donetsk made sure of their advance with a comfortable win over Turkey's Sivasspor on Tuesday.

The winners of the 38 play-off-round matches will be joined by the 10 losing teams from the Champions League play-off round to make up the 48 clubs in the group stage which which begins on September 17.

ch/dpa/Reuters/AFP

Editor: Neil King