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German quartet progress to group stage

  • Story Highlights
  • A quartet of Bundesliga sides through to the group stages of the UEFA Cup
  • Stuttgart leave it late as Mario Gomez nets in injury time to see them progress
  • Tournament favorites AC Milan also through after 4-1 aggregate win over Zurich
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(CNN) -- Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Hamburg and Schalke all booked their places in the UEFA Cup group stage to make it a good night for German teams in the competition.

Mario Gomez celebrates scoring his late goal as Stuttgart sealed their place in the UEFA Cup group stage.

Thomas Hitzlsperger and Mario Gomez scored two late goals to send Stuttgart through 4-3 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw with Chornomorets.

With the Germans leading 2-1 from the first leg, Chernomorets levelled the tie through Yordan Yurukov three minutes into the second half.

Stuttgart remained on course to progress on the away goals rule, but the Bulgarians looked to have booked their place when Georgi Rusev put them 2-0 ahead in the 81st minute.

But the hosts responded through Hitzlsperger two minutes later, before Gomez denied the visitors a chance of extra-time with a goal in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.

Wolfsburg drew 1-1 with Rapid Bucharest in Romania to progress 2-1 on aggregate. Brazilian forward Grafite scored the German side's vital away goal after just 17 minutes to put the visitors in control, before Vasile Maftei levelled matters 20 minutes from time.

Hamburg's passage was smoother as a goal in each half from Mladen Petric earned them a 2-0 win over Unirea Urziceni after a goalless first leg.

Schalke followed their 4-1 first-leg advantage with a 1-1 draw against Apoel Nicosia. Christian Pander levelled for the hosts in the second half after Helio Pinto had put Apoel ahead.

Elsewhere, a superb Andriy Shevchenko goal from Ronaldinho's flicked pass was enough to give tournament favorites AC Milan a 1-0 victory over FC Zurich, to see them progress 4-1 on aggregate.

Fellow-serie A side Sampdoria came from a goal down to win their second-leg tie with Kaunas 2-1, 7-1 on aggregate, thanks to second-half goals from Bruno Fornaroli and Emiliano Bonazzoli.

Michael Laudrup's Spartak Moscow side defended their 1-0 win from the first leg against Banik Ostrava with a 1-1 draw in the Russian capital, while Dutch side Feyenoord overcame a 1-0 reverse from the first leg in the Netherlands to beat Kalmar 2-1 and progress on away goals.

Spaniards Racing Santander also progressed with a 1-0 win over Honka Espoo giving them a 2-0 aggregate victory, Rosenborg beat Brondby 3-2 to win 5-3 overall, while Partizan Belgrade beat Timisoara 1-0 to go through 3-1.

Lech Poznan overturned their 2-1 first-leg defeat to Austria Vienna with a 4-2 win after extra-time in Poland. After the game ended 2-1 to the hosts, Robert Lewandowski and Rafal Murawski struck the decisive goals after Vienna were reduced to 10 men when Franz Schiemer was shown a second yellow card.

Elsewhere, Slovakian side Zilina shocked Levski Sofia with a 1-0 win in Bulgaria, in the process confirming their place in the group stage with a 2-1 victory on aggregate.

There were mixed fortunes for the Turkish clubs. Galatasaray enjoyed a 2-1 second-leg victory over Bellinzona to wrap up a 6-4 aggregate win. Goals from Czech striker Milan Baros and Yaser Yildiz did the damage for the home side.

But Besiktas failed to join them in the group stage though as they were unable to build on their 1-0 first-leg lead, instead crashing to a heavy 4-1 loss at Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv.

St Etienne qualified for the next round with 2-1 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv to add to their first-leg victory by the same scoreline, while a goalless draw was enough for NEC Nijmegen to scrape past Dinamo Bucharest following a 1-0 victory two weeks ago.

Slavia Prague also sneaked through on away goals at the expense of Romanian side FC Vaslui. Having played out a goalless draw in the first leg, Erich Brabec scored the decisive goal for Slavia as they secured a 1-1 draw.

Motherwell's first home European match for 13 years turned into a huge anti-climax as Nancy scored twice inside the opening quarter to end Scotland's interest in the competition.

Marc-Antoine Fortune followed up Benjamin Gavonon's free-kick to score in the 18th minute, and the same free-kick taker's intended cross found the net five minutes later to give the French side a 3-0 aggregate win.

Former England manager Steve McClaren guided Dutch club Twente Enschede through on away goals after a 1-0 win over French side Rennes.

Twente had lost the first leg clash 2-1 a fortnight ago, but that away goal, allied to Swiss international Blaise Kufo's strike in the 68th minute, proved crucial.

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