British quartet are a UEFA Cup knockout

Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and Rangers secured four berths for British teams in the knockout phase of the UEFA Cup on Thursday.

Spurs won 1-0 at Bayer Leverkusen while Newcastle beat Celta Vigo 2-1 at home to keep both sides top of their respective groups with maximum points from three games.

Blackburn drew 0-0 with 2002 champions Feyenoord in a match in Rotterdam marred by crowd trouble - and Rangers twice came from behind to hold AJ Auxerre 2-2 in Burgundy. Both Rovers and Rangers stay top of their groups on seven points.

Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov scored Tottenham's only goal at Leverkusen on his return to his previous club. At St James' Park, Celta took an early lead through Fabian Canobbio but they were undone by two headers. French midfielder Antoine Sibierski nodded the equaliser eight minutes before the interval and defender Steven Taylor got the winner five minutes from time.

Blackburn are three points ahead of second-placed AS Nancy in Group E after the French side missed a penalty and had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Basel, whose Argentinian keeper Franco Costanzo was sent off in injury time for bringing down goalbound Issiar Dia. With all three substitutions already made, striker Mladen Petric took over in goal and saved Michael Chretien's penalty.