Liverpool, Lazio, Rangers advance to Champions League

Liverpool moved smoothly into the lucrative 32-team group stage  with two goals from Dirk Kuyt and one apiece from Peter Crouch and Sami Hyypia earning the Reds a 4-0 victory over Toulouse to follow up a 1-0 win in France two weeks ago.

 Crouch struck from close range in the 19th minute when he got on the end of a cross by Kuyt, and Hyypia headed in the second in the 48th from a corner by Yossi Benayoun.

 Kuyt rounded off a comfortable night for the Premiership side by rifling in two right-foot shots into the net in the last three minutes.

 Visiting Lazio meanwhile came from behind at half-time to defeat Dinamo Bucharest 3-1 for a 4-2 aggregate victory.

 After Florin Bratu had put Dinamo ahead in the 27th minute, Tommaso Rocchi equalized from the penalty spot two minutes after the break before Goran Pandev in the 54th and Rocchi again in the 66th gave the Italians victory.

 Glasgow Rangers progressed after a scoreless draw at Red Star Belgrade proved enough for the Scottish side, who had beaten the Serbian champions at home 1-0 in the first leg.

 Sevilla's match at AEK Athens was postponed until Monday September 3 after the Spanish club's defender Antonio Puerta died earlier in the day following a heart attack in his side's 4-1 win against Getafe on Saturday.

 Twelve other matches in the third qualifying round are being played Wednesday night. The 16 qualifiers join the 16 seeded teams in the group-stage draw on Thursday evening in Monaco.

DPA