Newcastle cruised to an impressive 4-0 win in France against Sochaux in Group D.
They were joined in the knockout phase by 1997 winners Schalke 04 and Ukraine's Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk who also qualified with a game to spare.
The top three in each of the eight groups progress, where they will be joined by the eight third-placed finishers from the Champions League group stage.
Newcastle, without injured captain Alan Shearer, might have expected a tougher test in France against a Sochaux side flying high in Ligue 1 and unbeaten in 11 games.
But Lee Bowyer struck in the first half and then goals after the break from Shola Ameobi, Craig Bellamy and Lauren Robert handed the Premier League side a comfortable win. Sochaux's Jeremy Mathieu fired a 64th-minute penalty wide.
Sporting made it two wins from two and should join Newcastle in progressing from the same group. Brazilian Liedson, joint top-scorer in the Portuguese Premier League, hit a hat-trick in a 4-0 romp over Dinamo Tbilsi in Georgia.
Group C pacesetters Dnipro, who reached the third round last season, made it three wins from three as Serhiy Nazarenko's 19th-minute goal earned a 1-0 home success over Austria Vienna.
Schalke 04's 2-0 win over Ferencvaros in front of 52,000 fans in Gelsenkirchen gave the Bundesliga side seven points from three games in Group A.
Middlesbrough, in their first European campaign, missed the chance to seal their passage from Group E after losing 2-0 in Spain against last season's semi-finalists Villarreal.
Antonio Guayre ran on to Juan Roman Riquelme's slide rule pass to slot home the opener on 37 minutes. Argentine playmaker Riquelme also set up the second for Javi Venta 15 minutes from time.
ITALY WOE
Italian clubs dominated the UEFA Cup in the 1990s, winning it seven times, but their two remaining representatives face an uphill task.
Lazio must win their remaining Group E game against Egaleo to have a chance of staying in the competition after they were held 2-2 at home by Partizan Belgrade.
Cameroonian striker Pierre Boya struck twice to put Partizan in control before they were pegged back by goals from Paolo Di Canio and Simone Inzaghi, who had earlier missed a penalty.
Lazio, with just two points from three games, could face a fine from UEFA after fans racially abused Boya and Nigerian Ifeany Emeghara.
Parma, UEFA winners in 1995 and 1999, suffered a blow to their Group B hopes as a stoppage-time goal from Standard Liege's Michel Garbini inflicted a 2-1 defeat on the Serie A strugglers. Parma led through Andrea Pisanu before Karel Geraerts equalised after the break.
Steaua Bucharest, who had Daniel Oprita sent off after he was booked twice in one minute, moved to the top of the group with a 2-1 win over Besiktas.
It has been a miserable week for the Istanbul club. On Tuesday Besiktas were ordered to play three home matches behind closed doors after a fan was stabbed to death in their Inonu Stadium in a weekend game.
VfB Stuttgart missed the chance to secure their spot in the last 32 after going down to a 1-0 Group G defeat in the Netherlands against Heerenveen.
The Bundesliga side were joined on six points by Benfica who handed new Dinamo Zagreb coach Ilija Loncarevic a losing start.
Benfica beat the Croats 2-0 with first-half goals from Tomislav Sokota, against his former side, and Simao Sabrosa who netted with a penalty.
© 2024 Rediff.com -