In the early kick-offs in the UEFA Europa League, Celtic drew 0-0 in Hamburg to leave their qualification hopes hanging by a thread, and a late goal helped Genoa to beat Lille and turn Group B entirely on its head.

Tony Mowbray's Celtic knew that to give themselves a realistic chance of qualifying for the knockout stages they needed to produce somewhat of a surprise and beat Hamburg in Germany, but they were unable to do so.

Things almost got off to a terrible start for the Hoops as Marcus Berg came close to giving the Rothosen the lead within the opening 90 seconds, though Celtic keeper Lukasz Zaluska saved well.

The Scottish gianys had their chances as Barry Robson cracked an effort over the bar and Scott McDonald was twice denied by Frank Rost in the Hamburg goal.

The home side were looking for the win themselves and were troubling Celtic through the likes of Marcell Jansen and Eljero Elia, but in the end neither side could break the deadlock and the match ended goalless.

The other game in Group C was a little more definitive as Israeli outfit Hapoel Tel Aviv beat Rapid Vienna 3-0 in Austria thanks to goals from Avichai Yadin, Gil Vermot and Bebars Natcho.

The two games in Group B produced nine goals including a five-goal thriller in Italy as a last minute Giuseppe Sculli strike gave Genoa a 3-2 win over Lille.

The game started well for the Rossoblu as goals from Rodrigo Palacio and Hernan Crespo gave them a 2-0 lead at half-time, only for substitutes Pierre-Alain Frau and Gervinho to level for the French side in the last fifteen minutes.

However, Sculli's last minute goal handed the home side the points and put them within one point of the top of the group, after Valencia could only draw 2-2 with Slavia Prague.

The Spanish side were missing star striker David Villa, but it didn't seem to matter as goals from Joaquin (pen) and Hedwiges Maduro gave them a two goal lead.

Then two goals in three second-half minutes from Petr Janda and Peter Grajciar turned the match around and kept Los Che in second spot in the group.

Elsewhere, Martin Jol's Ajax produced an impressive performance to beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 in Croatia. Goals from Marko Pantelic and Demy De Zeeuw sends the Dutch gianys up to second in Group A behind Anderlecht, who won 3-1 at home to Timisoara.

In Group D Bundesliga's basement boys Hertha Berlin grabbed a rare victory as a late Artur Wichniarek goal handed them a 3-2 win in Heerenveen, while Sporting Lisbon drew 1-1 at home to FK Ventspils to move to within a point of qualification.

Finally in Group F, Frank Rijkaard's Galatasaray cruised to a 3-0 away win at Dinamo Bucharest thanks to goals from former Liverpool midfielder Harry Kewell, Shabani Nonda and Mehmet Topal.

The win confirms qualification for the Turkish side and keeps them a point ahead of Greek rivals Panathinaikos, who won 1-0 away to Sturm Graz.