Madrid, Aug 17 (IANS): Celtic pounded Astana 5-0 in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier against the squad from Kazakhstan, which all but assures the Scottish football champions a spot in the group stage.

Napoli, 2-0 winners at home over Nice, and Sevilla, who triumphed 2-1 away to Istanbul Basak, also look likely to reach Europe's elite club competition, reports Efe.

A pair from Scott Sinclair and one by James Forrest would have been more than enough for Celtic to win, but the visiting Kazakh side added two own goals to dash hopes for a comeback in the second leg.

Sergio Escudero put Sevilla ahead early against Basak only for the hosts to pull level at the hour mark on a goal by Eljero Elia. The Spanish side regained the advantage with Wissam Ben Yedder's goal and held on for the win.

Napoli took a 1-0 lead over Nice when Dries Mertens scored in the 13th minute and doubled their margin with Jorginho's conversion from the spot at the 70-minute mark.

Israel's Hapoel Beer Sheva conceded a goal in the 10th minute to Slovenian club Maribor before rebounding to win 2-1 on strikes by Anthony Nwakaeme and Shir Tzedek.

In Athens, Olympiakos also had to play catch-up after falling behind 1-0 when Heber Araujo dos Santos connected for Croatia's Rijeka. The hosts didn't get on the scoreboard until the 66th minute, courtesy of Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, and eked out the win with a goal in the 94th minute by Alaixys Romao.

The second legs will be played next Tuesday.