PARIS: Celtic’s Europa League ambitions suffered another severe blow on Thursday when

they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Rapid Vienna

of Austria in a match which brought back uncomfortable, ugly memories.

Celtic, who had lost their opening Group C match at Hapoel Tel Aviv, slipped behind after just three minutes at Parkhead when a mistake by Stephen McManus gifted Nikica Jelavic a goal. Australia’s Scott McDonald levelled in the 20th minute but Celtic could not find the winner as the Scottish giants slumped to the foot of the table following Hamburg’s 4-2 win over Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Twenty-five years ago, Celtic and Rapid clashed in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Rapid won 3-1 at home before Celtic took a 3-0 lead in the second leg. But Rapid player Rudi Weinhofer collapsed to the ground, claiming to have been hit by a missile thrown from the terraces before UEFA ordered a third game to be played. Current Rapid boss Peter Pacult scored the only goal of the match which was played at Old Trafford to take his side through to the next round.

Despite banners in the ground proclaiming ‘Cheats’ and ‘Unforgiven’ held aloft by Celic fans, Pacult shrugged off the events of a quarter of a century ago. “Half the fans were not old enough to come to the stadium 25 years ago. It’s a new generation of fans,” he said.

Meanwhile, Everton resisted a valiant effort by BATE Borisov to leave Belarus with a 2-1 victory which put them on top of Group I with six points while English Premier League rivals Fulham top Group E following their 1-0 victory over Basel.

Everton were a goal down by the 16th minute in Minsk as Dmitri Likhtarovich pounced on a loose ball 35 yards out and smashed it into the top corner past Tim Howard. Everton levelled the scores through Marouane Fellaini in the 68th minute before Tim Cahill grabbed the winner 10 minutes later. Danny Murphy struck the only goal in the 57th minute at Craven Cottage for Fulham converting a fine pass from Andrew Johnson.

Elsewhere, Lazio beat Levski Sofia 4-0 in Bulgaria. Brazilian midfielder Matuzalem opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and by half-time the visitors had doubled their advantage thanks to Italian striker Mauro Zarate. Lazio scored goals in the 67th and 73 minutes through Mourad Meghni and Tommaso Rocchi.

FC Salzburg punched above their weight to defeat tricky Spaniards Villarreal

2-0 while Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk thumped Partizan Belgrade of Serbia 4-1. AEK Athens, PSV Eindhoven and Werder Bremen also won at home.

100 detained, 10 injured

TIMISOARA: Police say more than 100 football people have been detained following violent clashes between rival supporters of Dinamo Zagreb and FC Timisoara at a Europa League match. Police spokesman Andrei Emil said violence erupted continued during Thursday’s game, which Dinamo won 3-0. Croat fans, some wearing masks and scarves covering their faces, hurled seats, firecrackers and stones during the game. Daily Gazeta Sporturilor reported on Friday they shouted “Down with the Serbs!” Fighting continued in downtown Timisoara after the match. The city has a large population of Serbs.

Emil said police detained some 117 Croats and 14 Romanians after the match. The newspaper said 10 people, including a police officer, were injured. Police escorted Croat fans to the Hungarian border, some 60 kilometers west of Timisoara after the match. — AP