Istanbul Başakşehir tops group to make the last 16 in ECL

Seattle Sports

Istanbul Başakşehir completed the group stage of the Europa Conference League with a 3-1 win over Hearts on Thursday to advance to the round of 16.

Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Serdar Gürler and Berkay Özcan scored for Başakşehir to top Group A with 13 points. Nathaniel Atkinson pulled one back for Hearts in the final minute.

Fiorentina won 3-0 at Latvian team RFS to finish second, also with 13 points. Hearts had six in third and RFS two at the bottom.

Group winners go directly to the last 16, while second-place teams face a playoff against the clubs placing third in Europa League groups.

West Ham, Villarreal and Djurgården already qualified for the last 16 by winning their groups before the last round of matches.

The ECL is Europe’s third-tier club competition.

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