Man City stumble in Poland, CSKA through in Europa

Manchester City were made to wait for Europa League qualification after losing 3-1 at Lech Poznan on Thursday, but CSKA Moscow booked their place in the last 32 with a 3-1 defeat of Palermo.

Victory in Poland would have taken big-spending City into the knockout phase, but despite dominating the early exchanges they fell behind in the 30th minute when Dimitrije Injac drove the ball home.

Emmanuel Adebayor, who scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture two weeks ago, drew City level early in the second half when he lashed in the rebound after home goalkeeper Jasmin Buric saved his header.

There was a cruel sting in the tail for the visitors, however, as Lech restored their advantage four minutes from time.

The goal had a touch of the comical to it, with City centre-back Dedryck Boyata inadvertently heading the ball against Manuel Arboleda’s head and the ball rebounding into the City net.

The Polish side made sure of victory in the first minute of injury time, with Mateusz Mozdzen crashing a sweet drive into the top-left corner from the edge of the box to send City to their third straight defeat.

Lech and City are level on seven points at the top of Group A, with Italian giants Juventus three points off the pace after a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Red Bull Salzburg.

CSKA secured one of the two qualifying berths in Group F after coming from behind to beat Palermo in the Russian capital and maintain their 100 percent record.

Massimo Maccarone put the visitors ahead in the 10th minute but Japanese international Keisuke Honda equalised shortly after half-time and a quick-fire brace by Tomas Necid took the Muscovites through.

Belarusian representatives BATE Borisov joined CSKA in the next phase after winning 3-1 at home to Moldovans Sheriff Tiraspol to guarantee a top-two finish in Group E.

Holders Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at Rosenborg thanks to an 84th-minute winner from Portuguese midfielder Tiago Mendes.

The side from the Spanish capital are a point behind Group B leaders Bayer Leverkusen after a goal in the 90th minute by Arturo Vidal gave the German side a 1-0 win over Greek outfit Aris.

Zenit Saint Petersburg, Stuttgart, Porto and Paris Saint-Germain can all reach the next phase in Thursday’s late games, when the stand-out fixture is Napoli’s trip to Liverpool in Group K.