Napoli are the only Italian representatives left with some hope in the Europa league after Juventus, Sampdoria and Palermo were eliminated.

Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain Dynamo Kiev, CSKA Moscow Sparta Prague Villareal and Besiktas qualified for the knockout stage of the Europa League yesterday.

A 1-1 draw at Steaua Bucharest ensured fallen English giant Liverpool will finish as winners of Group K, and Guillaume Hoarau scored twice for PSG in its 4-2 home win over Sevilla that guaranteed the French side a top-two finish from Group J.

Besiktas won 2-1 at CSKA Sofia to join FC Porto in qualifying from Group L and knock out the Bulgarian club with one match left. Porto won 3-1 at Rapid Vienna thanks to a hat trick by Falcao.

CSKA Moscow, the winner of the competition in 2005 when it was called the UEFA Cup, thrashed Lausanne 5-1 at home to secure top spot in Group F. Tomas Necid scored in either half for the Russian team.

Liverpool, one of three teams to have won Europe’s second-tier club competition three times, remained unbeaten in its group but was not convincing in the Romanian capital.

Manager Roy Hodgson filled his side with a mix of reserve-team players and youngsters, and saw Serbia forward Milan Jovanovic put the Reds ahead with a 19th-minute header from Ryan Babel’s cross.

Jose Reina’s mistake brought Steaua back into the match, the Spain goalkeeper allowing a tame header by Eder Bonfim to squirm through his legs in the 61st minute.

Reina claimed Romeo Surdu, who was standing in front of him to obscure his view of the ball, should have been flagged offside but accepted his share of the blame.

“It’s my mistake,” Reina said. “He was obstructing me but I should have done better than I did, I accept that.

“We got through as the top side of the group so we are happy. There were players out there without much experience and I thought we defended well.”

Edinson Cavani, the joint top goalscorer in Serie A, scored a hat trick to earn Napoli a point in a 3-3 draw in Utrecht that preserves both teams’ chances of going through.

They are both two points behind Steaua ahead of the last matchday.

Hoarau scored in either half for PSG while Brazilian winger Nene set up two and found the net moments before the interval to take his tally for the season to 12 goals. Mathieu Bodmer was the hosts’ other scorer.

Frederic Kanoute had scored twice in quick succession to level for Sevilla, which is now just a point clear of third-place Borussia Dortmund. The German club beat Karpaty Lviv 3-0 to stay alive in the competition.

Besiktas knew a win in Sofia would see them through to the last 32, and goals by Czech defender Tomas Zapotocny and Slovakia striker Filip Holosko earned their side three points.

Colombia forward Falcao’s three goals in Vienna, two of which came in the final four minutes, guaranteed Porto top spot in Group L.

Sekou Oliseh, Zoran Tosic and Alan Dzagoev were the other scorers for CSKA Moscow, which leads Group F by four points on Sparta Prague after the latter held 9-man Palermo to a 2-2 draw. Palermo needed a win to keep their hopes alive but though they were ahead twice they failed to keep the pace and joined their compatriots Juventus and Sampdoria out.