Trabzonspor 1 Liverpool 3 Liverpool win 4-2 on agg

LIVERPOOL manager Roy Hodgson insists he wants to build his team around people like Dirk Kuyt and has no intention of selling him.

The Dutchman’s agent claimed he wanted to join former Reds boss Rafael Benitez at Inter Milan.

However, the 30-year-old showed no sign of that as he worked hard in the 2-1 Europa League play-off second leg victory over Trabzonspor, scoring the second goal.

After the match he committed himself to the club by saying: ‘‘As far as I know my future is at Liverpool. I’ve had a great time so far and I hope my future will be great here.

‘‘All I want is to win trophies with Liverpool.’’ It was something Hodgson welcomed but did not think was necessary.

‘‘Dirk Kuyt is not for sale so excuse me for not understanding the speculation of being happy now he has said he is staying because I never doubted he was staying,’’ added Hodgson.

“Dirk is an important part of Liverpool, I’ve made it clear we don’t welcome any offers for him and he’s not for sale.”

Hodgson said there had been no movement on Javier Mascherano’s situation, who is a target for Barcelona, and dismissed suggestions Inter Milan had entered the bidding.

Hodgson admitted his side were ‘‘looking down the barrel’’ against Trabzonspor before a late comeback secured their passage.

Trailing to Teofilo Gutierrez’s fourth-minute strike, the Reds secured a 3-1 aggregate scoreline and passage into the group stages thanks to a late Remzi Kacar own goal and a tap-in from Kuyt.

Aston Villa crashed out to Rapid Vienna for the second successive season despite twice being in front.

It was a big financial blow for the midlands club and also weakened caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald’s chances of being given the job on a permanent basis.

Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey netted for Villa but Rapid refused to buckle and goals from Atdhe Nuhiu, Mario Sonnleitner and Rene Gartler stunned the near 30,000 crowd as Villa’s Stiliyan Petrov saw a penalty saved.

But Manchester City coasted into the group stages with a comfortable victory against Timisoara at Eastlands.

Holding a 1-0 lead from the play-off first leg, Shaun Wright-Phillips extended their advantage after a glorious through-ball from Patrick Vieira.

City sewed the tie up with Dedryck Boyata’s first goal for the club – a thumping header following David Silva’s free-kick.

Celtic suffered on a night to forget for the Scottish teams as Utrecht ran riot to seal their own place in the group stages after staging a remarkable comeback in the tie.

Goals from Efrain Juarez and Georgios Samaras in the first leg at Parkhead were wiped out in a devastating seven-minute spell which saw Ricky van Wolfswinkel net twice from the penalty spot before completing his hat-trick in the second half.