Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt [ Images ] headed a late goal to send the five-times European champions into the last 16 of the Europa League [ Images ] with a 1-0 victory over a defiant Sparta Prague at Anfield on Thursday.

Ajax Amsterdam and Benfica [ Images ], two other big names in European football, also went through, the Dutch beating Anderlecht 2-0 and the Portuguese winning by the same score at VfB Stuttgart.

PSV Eindhoven beat Lille [ Images ] 3-1 to progress from a meeting of Dutch and French league leaders while Russian pair Zenit St Petersburg [ Images ] and Spartak Moscow overcame Swiss opposition in frigid conditions.

Germany [ Images ] captain Michael Ballack [ Images ] was among the scorers as Bayer Leverkusen [ Images ] beat Metalist Kharkiv 2-0 to complete a 6-0 aggregate victory over the Ukrainians.

Big-spending Manchester City [ Images ] qualified with a 3-0 win over Aris Salonika, helped by two goals in the first 12 minutes from recent Bosnian signing Edin Dzeko after a goalless first leg. Yaya Toure [ Images ] added the third with a deflected shot.

They will face Dynamo Kiev, who beat Besiktas 4-0 with Andriy Shevchenko among the scorers for an emphatic 8-1 aggregate scoreline.

Italy's [ Images ] interest ended when Villarreal [ Images ] beat Napoli 2-1 following last week's goalless draw. The Spanish side will now meet Leverkusen.

EUROPEAN DEBUT

In Kenny Dalglish's first European home match as Liverpool manager -- the club were banned from Europe during his previous stint -- Kuyt headed in from a corner after 86 minutes to secure victory over the Czechs with extra time looming.

"We deserved it, we had a lot of chances," Dalglish told Britain's Channel 5 television. "Even after we scored we had a couple. Tough opposition but they hung in, great credit to the lads for their determination and effort to get a result."

The first leg had ended goalless in Prague.

Liverpool will face Braga, who beat Lech Poznan 2-0 for a 2-1 aggregate win, in the next round.

Serb Miralem Sulejmani scored two early goals as four-times European champions Ajax completed a 5-0 win over their Belgian opponents and former UEFA [ Images ] Cup winners Anderlecht.

Benfica's Eduardo Salvio and Oscar Cardozo, two members of their South American contingent, completed a 4-1 aggregate win for former European champions Benfica over Stuttgart.

The Portuguese will next play Paris St Germain after the French side went through on away goals against BATE Borisov.

Pierre-Alain Frau gave Lille a halftime lead at PSV but Balasz Dzsudzsak, Jeremain Lens [ Images ] and Marcelo replied for the Dutch in an 18-minute spell as they won 5-3 on aggregate.

Russian champions and 2008 UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg came back from the brink of elimination to beat Young Boys Berne 3-1 and 4-3 on aggregate.

Ammar Jemal gave the Swiss the lead in a game which kicked off in a temperature of minus 9 Celsius, slightly warmer than predicted earlier this week.

Danko Lazovic and Sergei Semak replied for Zenit either side of halftime and Roman Shirokov scored the winner.

Spartak Moscow drew 1-1 at home to FC Basel in even colder conditions -- around minus 15 -- to go through 4-3 on aggregate and earn a tie against Ajax.

With CSKA Moscow [ Images ] qualifying on Wednesday for a last 16 tie with Porto, compatriots Rubin Kazan, who squandered a 2-0 lead at Twente Enschede to draw 2-2 and lose 4-2 on aggregate, were the only Russian side to go out.

Twente will play Zenit in the next round.

Rangers grabbed a stoppage time equaliser through Edu in a 2-2 draw at Sporting that sent the Scottish side through on away goals to set up a clash with PSV.

Photograph: Getty Images