Europa League Thursday Review

Athletic Bilbao avoided a Europa League exit at the hands of Young Boys as they sneaked into the play-off round on away goals.

The Spanish cup finalists lost the first leg of their third qualifying round tie 1-0 last week but goals from Fernando Llorente and Iker Muniain put them on course in Berne.

There was still time for Joetex Frimpong to level the scores on aggregate in injury-time but it was not enough for the hosts.

Former European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade mounted an even more impressive comeback to defeat Dinamo Tbilisi 5-4 on aggregate.

Having lost the first leg 2-0 in Georgia, the Serbians trailed in the tie for all but the final moments as Dejan Lekic netted his hat-trick goal in the 88th minute to put them 5-2 ahead on the night.

Italian giants Roma put Gent to the sword, captain Francesco Totti grabbing a hat-trick in a 7-1 victory in Belgium - six of the goals coming in the second half - as they romped through 10-2 on aggregate.

Former Cup Winners' Cup champions Aberdeen were humiliated by Czech side Sigma Olomouc, a 3-0 defeat tonight compounding their 5-1 home loss last week.

Motherwell were also well beaten despite taking the lead against Steaua Bucharest as the Romanians hit back to win 3-1 on the night and 6-1 on aggregate.

Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven were again unconvincing as an own goal from Mamoutou Coulibaly gave them a 1-0 win over Bulgarians Cherno More, 2-0 on aggregate.

Galatasaray had no such troubles, beating Israel's M. Netanya 6-0 tonight to secure a 10-1 aggregate romp. Shabani Nonda helped himself to a hat-trick.

City rivals Fenerbahce settled for a 1-1 draw against Hungarians Honved, going through 6-2 on aggregate.

English outfit Fulham had little trouble seeing off Vetra, Andrew Johnson scoring twice late on as they replicated their 3-0 win from the first leg.

Irish side St Patrick's, who reached the UEFA Cup first round last season, were at it again as they sneaked past Krylya Sovetov on away goals.

The Russians looked to be cruising at 3-0 up but two goals for their opponents in the latter stages made it 3-3 on aggregate. Declan O'Brien, who scored the winner in the first leg last week, was the hero again with the decisive goal.

Derry fell just short, though, a 1-1 draw with CSKA Sofia giving the Bulgarians a 2-1 victory in the tie.

Last season's semi-finalists Hamburg lost 1-0 to Randers, although the Germans still eased through 4-1, but Portugal's Braga are out, losing 2-0 to Elfsborg of Sweden tonight and 4-1 over the two legs.

Hapoel Tel Aviv comfortably maintained their advantage over Sweden's Gothenburg, a 1-1 draw on the night giving them a surprise 4-2 aggregate victory.

French outfit Lille left it late to beat Sevojno, with goals in the last 18 minutes from Yohan Cabaye and Tulio De Melo making it 4-0 on aggregate.

Club Brugge edged past Finnish side Lahti 4-3, with Joseph Akpala scoring the opener for the Belgians in tonight's 1-1 draw.

Sturm Graz made home advantage count, thumping FK Petrovac 5-0 to ease through but countrymen Rapid Vienna needed extra-time to see off Cypriots APOP, Christopher Trimmel scoring the vital goal in the 111th minute.

Austria Vienna made it a triple celebration but they, too, left it late, netting twice in the last 10 minutes to progress 5-3 against Vojvodina after the Serbians had looked set to win on away goals.

Two goals from Alexander Frei helped Basle to a 3-1 win over KR of Reykjavik tonight after a draw in the first leg while Holland's NAC Breda beat Polonia Warsaw 4-1 on aggregate.

Legia Warsaw are also out after two goals from Max Von Schlebrugge gave Brondby the edge on away goals as the tie ended 3-3.

Fellow Danish outfit Odense BK beat Rabotnicki 3-0 and 7-3 overall while Zilina scored the only goal in their second leg against Hajduk Split to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

Qarabag of Azerbaijan progressed with a 3-1 aggregate win over Finns FC Honka, Czechs Liberec beat Vaduz 2-0 tonight for a comfortable 3-0 win while Kosice of Slovakia easily saw off Slavija 5-1 in the tie.

Lech Poznan lost 2-1 to Fredrikstad tonight but still cruised to a 7-3 aggregate victory while Norwegians Tromso beat Slaven Koprivnica 2-0 for a 4-1 overall victory.

In other ties, Metalurg Donetsk raced past Ljubljana 5-0 on aggregate, Metalist Kharkiv beat Rijeka 2-0 on the night and 4-1 overall and PAOK edged past Valerenga on away goals despite losing 1-0.

Israeli side Bnei Yehuda also qualified for the play-off round with a 1-0 win over Pacos de Ferreira in Portugal giving them a 2-0 aggregate victory.