London, Feb 28: Michael Owen scored his 20th European goal yesterday to send Liverpool into the UEFA Cup quarterfinals and a matchup against Scottish champion Celtic. Owen equaled Ian Rush's European record in the 67th minute against French club Auxerre. Danny Murphy scored six minutes later to give Liverpool, the 2001 champion, a 3-0 aggregate win. Celtic lost its return leg at Stuttgart yesterday, but advanced on a 5-4 aggregate.
Other teams to advance after their fourth round, second leg matches were Spain's Malaga, Portugal's Porto and Boavista and Turkey's Besiktas. Panathinaikos of Greece also advanced despite losing its second leg 2-0 to Anderlecht and being reduced to nine men.
The match between polish club Wisla and Lazio was postponed until next Wednesday because of a frozen pitch in Krakow. The sides drew 3-3 in Rome last week. The winner will meet Besiktas. In other quarterfinal matchups, Malaga will play Boavista and Porto will lock horns with Panathinaikos.
Bureau Report