Man Utd, Tottenham and Rangers all reach Europa League last 16

LONDON : Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were joined by Rangers as three British clubs secured their spots in the Europa League last-16 on the final round of group games on Thursday.

United, who like Tottenham have endured a disappointing Premier League season, won 2-0 at Steaua Bucharest to continue their recent upturn in form.

Second-half goals by Diogo Dalot and Kobbie Mainoo silenced a raucous home crowd as United finished third in the table behind Lazio and Athletic Bilbao.

"When you get to this stage of any competition, anything is possible and they can prove they can win against anybody," United manager Ruben Amorim said.

Tottenham eased to a 3-0 victory over Swedish side Elfsborg with youngsters Dane Scarlett, Damola Ajayi and Mikey Moore all netting their first goals for the club.

The victory saw Spurs finish fourth, although their joy was dampened slightly by an injury to defender Radu Dragusin.

"I'm sure those boys won't sleep tonight, but we needed that. We needed some energy - we kind of designed the game today, we're trying to protect some of our players, we've got a big week coming up, and we were going to need the young boys today, and they stood up," under-pressure manager Ange Postecoglou said.

Rangers began the evening outside the top eight but a 2-1 home victory against Belgians Union Saint-Gilloise and results elsewhere enabled them to jump into eighth place and avoid having to enter the knockout phase playoffs.

Nico Raskin headed the opening goal and Vaclav Cerny slotted a second for Rangers.

Lazio finished top of the rankings although they suffered a 1-0 defeat at Braga. Ricardo Horta's sixth-minute goal proved enough for the Portuguese side although they bowed out after finishing 25th in the