By Muhammed Enes Calli
ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Super Lig side Demir Grup Sivasspor said goodbye to the Europa League on Thursday after losing 1-0 to Israel's Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the last Group I match.
Enric Saborit broke the deadlock in the second half to seal the win for the home team at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.
Sivasspor's players took a knee ahead of the match in protest over an alleged racist remark by a referee against Turkish team Medipol Basaksehir's assistant manager Pierre Webo in a Champions League clash Tuesday against Paris Saint-Germain.
Sivasspor were knocked out of the Europa League with the loss, coming in third in the group with 6 points.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv moved to the knockout stages after collecting 11 points to be in second spot.
Another Group I match between Spanish club Villarreal and Azerbaijan's Qarabag was postponed over multiple coronavirus cases.
Qarabag failed to have the minimum number of players since they had many COVID-19 cases in their squad.
Villarreal have already qualified for the knockout stages and were leading the group with 13 points with one game remaining.
Qarabag have 1 point so far and are in last spot in the group.