Opportunity knocks for Europa League teens

Opportunity knocked for a host of teenage hopefuls in the Europa League on Thursday with 16-year-old Romelu Lukaku making the biggest impression as Anderlecht reached the last 32.

Lukaku scored twice in the first 20 minutes as the Belgians defeated Ajax 3-1 and help his side pip the stylish Dutch giants to top spot in Group A.

Everton, with their place in Friday’s knockout round draw already assured, also opted for youth in a 1-0 Group I defeat against Belarusian side BATE Borisov.

Centre-back Shane Duffy, 17, deflected a 25-metre drive from Alexsandr Yurevich into his own net for the only goal of the night at Goodison Park as manager David Moyes made nine changes to the side which drew 3-3 with Chelsea last Saturday.

Defender Jake Bidwell – at 16 years and 271 days – became the youngest player to figure for Everton in Europe and the third youngest behind Jose Baxter and James Vaughan to play for the first team overall.

As well as defeat, Everton’s threadbare squad suffered another jolt when 18-year-old Jack Rodwell was forced off with injury after just eight minutes.

Elsewhere, Celtic, already eliminated, came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Rapid Vienna in Group C where Hamburg and Hapoel Tel Aviv had made sure of qualification into the knockout round.

Celtic were three goals down after only 19 minutes with Nikica Jelavic (2) and Hamdi Salihi on target.

But Marc-Antoine Fortune then grabbed a brace before Paul McGowan drove in a stoppage-time equaliser for the Scots.

Italian hopes suffered a double setback as Genoa joined Lazio at the exit door.

Genoa lost 2-1 to Group B winners Valencia for whom David Villa grabbed a last-gasp winner. Lille took second spot with a 3-1 win over Slavia Prague.

Lazio lost 1-0 at home to Levksi Sofia in Group G where Austria’s FC Salzburg finished as the only side with a 100-percent record as Dusan Svento scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at fellow qualifiers Villarreal.

Veteran Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos played his last match for Group H winners Fenerbahce, helping the Turkish side to a 1-0 win over Sheriff of Moldova.

Carlos, 36, who signed for Fenerbahce from Real Madrid in 2007, had recently revealed he had penned a two-year deal with Corinthians of Sao Paulo.

Friday’s last 32 draw features the top two teams in each of the 12 groups as well as the eight third-place finishers from the Champions League group stages.

Juventus, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon and Atletico Madrid are among the teams from the Champions League first stage who will be in the hat.