Florence, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Tottenham was bounced from the Europa League on Thursday after suffering a 2-0 loss at Fiorentina, bowing out of the competition by a 3-1 aggregate score.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino deployed a slightly weakened side with one eye on Sunday's Capital One Cup final, but Roberto Soldado nearly rewarded his boss for a rare start when he broke free on goal midway through the opening period. The Spaniard beat the offside trap but elected to play a square pass to Nacer Chadli instead of going for goal, a decision that allowed Fiorentina goalkeeper Neto to smother the ball.
The English club was punished for the missed opportunity as Mario Gomez broke the deadlock in the 54th minute. Latching on to a through ball that split the Tottenham defense, the German striker drifted across Federico Fazio and slipped a shot past Hugo Lloris for the telling goal.
Mohamed Salah put the result on ice in the 71st when the former Chelsea man pounced on Jan Vertonghen's poor touch and hammered a shot into the roof of the net.
Liverpool, meanwhile, suffered a 1-0 defeat at Besiktas on Thursday to force penalties, which the English club lost following Dejan Lovren's miss from the spot.
Tolgay Arslan scored a long-distance goal in the 73rd minute to level the aggregate score, and after a scoreless period of extra time, netted the go- ahead goal in the requisite penalty shootout. Lovren stepped up with a chance to force additional penalties, but the Croatian defender sent his attempt well wide of the post.
Romelu Lukaku continued his scoring tear on Thursday by netting a brace in Everton's 3-1 defeat of Young Boys.
The Belgian produced a hat trick in the opening leg, but his two-goal performance at Goodison helped the Toffees advance behind a 7-2 aggregate score.
After a 3-3 draw in the first leg, Inter Milan edged Celtic, 1-0, at the San Siro on Thursday to advance behind Fredy Guarin's late strike.
Ajax, meanwhile, cruised as Arkadiusz Milik bagged a brace in a 3-0 defeat of Legia Warsaw.
Zenit advanced under similar circumstances as Jose Salomon Rondon scored twice in the Russian club's 3-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven.
Borussia Monchengladbach departed the Europa League following a 3-2 home loss to Sevilla on Thursday while Dinamo Moscow's 3-1 victory over Anderlecht was enough to see the Russian through to the next round.
Villarreal advanced comfortably with a 3-1 win at Red Bull Salzburg on Thursday, Club Brugge claimed a 3-0 victory over AaB to ease into the next round and Jonathan De Guzman netted the lone goal in Napoli's 1-0 defeat of Trabzonspor.
A 0-0 draw at Sporting Lisbon was enough to see Wolfsburg through after the German club had claimed a 2-0 win on home soil, and Torino earned a 3-2 victory to edge Athletic Bilbao, 5-4, on aggregate.
Finally, Roma claimed a 2-1 win over Feyenoord to get past the Dutch side by a 3-2 aggregate score.
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