20 August,2011 03:43 AM IST | | AFP
Tottenham Hotspur led the way on a positive night for English clubs in the Europa League play-offs on Thursday, crushing Scottish rivals Hearts 5-0 to all but book their place in the group phase.
Tottenham's Niko Kranjcar shields the ball during Thursday's Europa
League play-off first leg against Hearts in Scotland. Pic/getty images
FA Cup finalists Stoke City won 1-0 at Swiss league leaders FC Thun and Fulham overwhelmed Ukrainians Dnipropetrovsk 3-0, but League Cup winners Birmingham City had to settle for a 0-0 draw at Portugal's Nacional.
If it was largely plain sailing for the English representatives in the competition, it was anything but for some of the tournament's biggest names.
Champions League semi-finalists in May, Schalke fell 2-0 at Finnish minnows HJK Helsinki, while Italian powerhouses Roma lost 1-0 at Slovan Bratislava and Sevilla, UEFA Cup winners in 2006 and 2007, went down 2-1 at Hannover.
There were also disappointing results for the two other Scottish sides. A stoppage-time back-heel by Etien Velikonja saw Scottish champions Rangers lose 2-1 at Maribor of Slovenia, while Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw in the home leg of their play-off tie with FC Sion. The second legs take place next Thursday.
