• Europa League

Jo equaliser secures top spot for City

Jo scored the equaliser for Manchester City © PA Photos

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Mancini expects Tevez to play against Everton
  
• Match report: Liverpool draw blank at home to Utrecht
  

Europa League gallery

Manchester City striker Jo earned his side a 1-1 draw against Juventus in Turin to secure top spot in their Europa League group.

Juventus youngster Nicolo Giannetti had put the home side ahead on the stroke of half-time, but Jo's calm finished secured a valuable point to finish top of Group A.

With wantaway striker Carlos Tevez not travelling to Italy, Mancini handed youngster Alex Nimely his first start of the season, but it was another 19-year-old, Giannetti who looked to have stolen the headlines, poking home Alessandro del Piero's cross to give the Italian side the lead.

City started brightly, with Jo going close following Micah Richards' burst from defence, and Adam Johnson's follow-up was bundled away in the opening exchanges. Just moments later James Milner was denied a penalty claim after Zdenek Grygera appeared to handle the ball.

Nimely had the chance to get on the scoresheet, but his header from Johnson's free-kick flew wide. But it was Jo who continued to be the major goal threat, and he had the ball in the back of the net shortly after half-time - the striker controlled Johnson's chip over the defence to stroke the ball home, but he was deemed to have been offside.

City continued to press, and were denied another penalty after Nimely's goalbound shot was handled by Giorgio Chiellini - but the referee waved for play to continue. It was to be the youngster's last contribution, as he was replaced by Pablo Zabaleta on the hour-mark.

Jo once more forced a save from Juve keeper Alex Manninger, after a well-worked move from City saw Johnson release Milner, and the midfielder's dangerous ball across the face of goal was well read by the former Arsenal keeper who came off his line to block Jo's effort.

It was the impressive Johnson who was involved in the equaliser, and he slotted the ball through to Jo, who turned onto his left foot and struck the ball past a helpless Manninger to guarantee City will avoid other group winners in Friday's draw for the knockout stages.

Meanwhile, Semir Stilic's first half goal was enough for Lech Poznan to win away to Red Bull Salzburg but it was not enough to secure first place in Group A.

Holders Atletico Madrid were sent crashing out of the competition © PA Photos

Enlarge

Reigning champions Atletico Madrid were dumped out of the Europa League after seeing results go against them in Group B. Atletico needed to better the score Aris Thessaloniki got at home to Rosenborg in their match with group winners Bayer Leverkusen in order to pip the Greek side to second spot and a place in the last 32.

Atletico did not get the desired result at either ground though, as Quique Sanchez Flores' men could only record a 1-1 draw at a snow-covered BayArena - Patrick Helmes putting the hosts ahead in the second half before Fran Merida equalised almost immediately. Aris sealed their place in the knockout stages with a 2-0 win over Rosenborg. Goals from Danijel Cesarec and Ricardo Faty in each half proved enough for the Greek side.

Lille snatched second place in Group C from opponents Gent and also qualification to the next round thanks to goals from Ludovic Obraniak, Pierre-Alain Frau and Moussa Sow in a 3-0 win.

Daniel Mladenov hit the winner just before half-time as Levski Sofia secured the consolation victory they were seeking in Group C's other match. The Bulgarians were humiliated by Sporting in the Portuguese capital earlier in the campaign, crumbling 5-0, and their hopes of progressing from Group C were over before Thursday's match. Sporting, in contrast, had four wins from five matches to guarantee their place in the Europa League knock-out rounds as group winners.

AEK Athens suffered a heart-breaking exit from the Europa League after they were beaten 3-0 at home by already-qualified Zenit St Petersburg. The Greek side began the day in the box seat to progress to the knockout phase as they sat three points clear of Anderlecht in Group G.

But defeat, plus the Belgians' 2-0 win over Hajduk Split, eliminated AEK due to their inferior head-to-head record. The loss was made even harder to stomach after Ismael Blanco missed a penalty to put AEK ahead, before goals from Alexander Bukharov, Alessandro Rosina and Igor Denisov ensured Zenit's perfect record in the group.

Stuttgart welcomed new head coach Bruno Labbadia with a comfortable 5-1 home victory over Odense to finish off Group H of the Europa League as table toppers. Timo Gebhart opened the scoring in the 20th minute for Stuttgart and Daniel Hoegh's own goal made it 2-0 three minutes after the break.

Getafe bade farewell to the Europa League on a winning note after easing past already-qualified Young Boys 1-0 at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. With no chance of a top-two finish in Group H, Getafe coach Michel opted to give some of his fringe players a chance and it was one of the newcomers, 20-year-old striker Adrian Corpa, who struck the only goal of the game early on.

PSV Eindhoven secured top spot in Europa League Group I as they played out an entertaining goalless draw with Metalist Kharkiv. Debrecen ended their dismal Europa League campaign on a high with a 2-0 victory at home against an under-strength Sampdoria. The Hungarians, looking to avoid a sixth straight defeat in Group I, finally picked up their first points thanks to Peter Kabat's second-half double.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.