There was qualification for two English teams but struggles for the Scottish sides in Thursday night’s Europa League action.
To start off the night, Arsenal confirmed their progression to the last 32 with an emphatic 3-0 victory at Norwegian side Molde.
Despite the Gunners’ domestic troubles, strikes from Nicolas Pepe, Reiss Nelson and a first-ever Arsenal goal for young striker Folarin Balogun mean they advance from Group B.
The other match in the group saw Dundalk yet again fail to pick up their first European points, losing 3-1 to Rapid Vienna.
Connor Shields’ penalty wasn’t enough for the Irish side, who still sit bottom of the group.
In Group G, Leicester also qualified for the next round in dramatic fashion, requiring a 95th-minute equaliser from Jamie Vardy to earn them a point in their 3-3 draw with Braga.
The Foxes went behind to an Ali Musrati goal which was quickly answered by English winger Harvey Barnes, however Paulinho put the hosts back ahead for the majority of the match.
George Thomas equalised again for Leicester, but the game looked out of sight when Fransergio netted in the 90th minute until Vardy popped up at the end to snatch a point for the English side.
Ukrainian out Zorya Luhansk defeated AEK Athens 3-0 which meant that a point for Leicester was enough to see them qualify.
Spurs got their Europa League campaign back on track in Group J with a superb 4-0 win over Ludogorets.
Carlos Vinicius bagged his first two for the club, while Harry Winks scored from 56-yards out before Lucas Moura completed the rout.
A win next week will secure qualification for Jose Mourinho’s side.
Elsewhere in Group J, LASK suffered their first loss in Europe this season against Royal Antwerp.
Gernot Trauner was sent off and minutes later Lior Refaelov put the Belgian side in the lead, and then a Pieter Gerkens strike rounded off proceedings as Antwerp won 2-0.
Celtic crashed out of Group H with two games to spare after suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat by Sparta Prague.
Odsonne Edouard had put the Scottish champions ahead, but just 10 minutes later Sparta levelled through David Hancko.
In the final stages of the game, Neil Lennon’s side capitulated and conceded three in quick succession, as a Lukas Julis brace was added to by Srdan Plavsic.
Despite Celtic’s exit, the rest of the group is wide open after Lille and AC Milan drew 1-1.
A goal each from Samuel Azuaga and Jonathan Bamba meant the points were shared in France, and now just two points separate first place Lille and third place Prague, with Milan in the middle.
In Group D, Rangers were all-but qualified until a late Benfica comeback meant the Scots had to put their celebrations on hold.
Scott Arfield and Kemar Roofe put Rangers 2-0 up, but a quickfire James Tavernier own goal and a tidy finish from Pizzi saw the match end 2-2.
Standard Liege got their first win in Europe this season, beating Lech Poznan 2-1.
In Group L, Hoffenheim kept up their impressive European form in a 2-0 victory away at Czech side Liberec.
Leaving it late, Christoph Baumgartner and Andrej Kramaric both scored in the latter stages of the second half to send the German club through to the knockout rounds.
The other Group L match saw Gent drop out of Europe as they lost 2-0 at home to Red Star Belgrade, with goals scored by Njegos Petrovic and Nemanja Milunovic.
Bayer Leverkusen comfortably defeated Hapoel Be’er Sheva 4-1 in Group C.
Patrik Schick, Leon Bailey, Karim Demirbay and Lucas Alario’s goals proved too much for the Israeli side despite a consolation from winger Itamar Shviro.
Slavia Prague also picked up three points, leaving them joint top with the German side.
They put three past Nice as Ondrej Lingr, Peter Olayinka and Abdallah Sima all netted, despite an initial equaliser from wonderkid Amine Gouiri.
Everything is still to play for in Group K, with all sides still in contention to progress to the round of 32.
Although striker Nicolai Jorgensen was dismissed, the 10 men of Feyenoord played out a goalless draw with CSKA Moscow.
However, Dinamo Zagreb capitalised on the points dropped by their other opponents as they defeated Austrian team Wolfsberger AC 3-0 away from home.
Their goals came from Lovro Majer, Bruno Petkovic and Luka Ivanusec.
Villarreal remain top of Group I after their 1-1 draw with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a special occasion for their midfielder Dani Parejo who reached 500 games in professional football.
Alejandro Baena scored on the stroke of half-time but was cancelled out two minutes into the second period by Aleksander Pesic.
The other Group I match was decided by ex-Everton player Arouna Kone, who’s brace proved enough for Turkish side Sivasspor to edge out FK Qarabag 3-2.
Uros Matic, brother of Nemanja, scored for Qarabag alongside Abdellah Zoubir but it wasn’t enough as Kone added to Nigerian forward Olarenwaju Kayode’s goal to give Sivas the win.
Napoli paid tribute to the late Diego Maradona before their game and put in a fitting performance afterwards by brushing aside Croatian club HNK Rijeka.
An Armando Anastasio own goal was added to by Hirving Lozano late in the game, as the Italian side went top of Group F.
AZ Alkmaar and Real Sociedad played out the other group game, drawing 0-0, leaving both sides in joint second two points behind Napoli.
Luis Suarez (not that one) and Alberto Soro netted goals as Granada beat Omonia 2-1 to stay top of Group E.
PSV came from two goals down to beat PAOK 3-2, with youngster Donyell Malen amongst the goal scorers who helped the Dutch side into second place.
In Group A, Jean-Pierre Nsame netted the only goal of the game as Young Boys beat CSKA Sofia 1-0 and the Bulgarian club dropped out of Europe.
A Gabriel Debeljuh own goal was followed up by former Aston Villa midfielder Jordan Veretout’s penalty as Roma won their match against CFR Cluj and claimed top spot.
By Ali Pollock
