Aston Villa edges Salzburg 3-2
Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba’s first-ever goal for Aston Villa was an 87th-minute winner in a 3-2 comeback victory over Salzburg to conclude the opening phase of the Europa League on Thursday. The 19-year-old Jimoh-Aloba’s strike followed Tyrone Mings’ equalizer at Villa Park. Morgan Rogers sparked the comeback in the 64th after the visitors built a 2-0 lead on own goal from Victor Lindelof and then Moussa Yeo’s goal.
Villa wasn’t able to overtake Lyon atop the 36-team standings, however, after the French team beat 10-man PAOK 4-2 to remain in front of Unai Emery’s team on goal difference. Both Lyon and Villa had already secured a spot in the round of 16. Like in the Champions League, the top eight finishers advance automatically to the last 16. The teams placed from nine to 24 enter a two-leg playoff.
The rest of the top eight are: third-place Midtjylland, Real Betis, Porto, Braga, Freiburg, and Roma. Midtjylland, a Danish club, beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 to move up to third, two points back of Lyon and Villa. In Seville, former Manchester United winger Antony scored and set up Abde Ezzalzouli’s goal in Real Betis’ 2-1 win over Feyenoord.
Porto rallied from a goal down to beat Rangers 3-1 and jump from ninth to fifth, Braga advanced in the sixth spot after a 0-0 draw at Go Ahead Eagles, and 10-man Freiburg slipped to ninth with a 1-0 loss at Lille. Jan Ziolkowski headed in an 80th-minute equalizer for Roma in a 1-1 draw with Panathinaikos.
Playoff spot for Celtic: Celtic claimed one of the five playoff spots that remained Thursday by beating Utrecht 4-2. The playoffs draw is Friday. The Scottish giant led 3-0 within the opening 20 minutes at Celtic Park on Benjamin Nygren’s early goal, Nick Viergever’s own goal and Arne Engels’ penalty. Igor Jesus scored twice for Nottingham Forest in a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros.
PAOK fans honored: The seven PAOK fans who died in a minibus crash in Romania this week on their way to attend a game between Lyon and their club were honored at stadiums in France and Greece.
Lyon expressed its “sincere condolences” to PAOK and supporters’ associations for rival Greek clubs Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, Aris, and others issued messages of unity and condolences. A moment of silence was observed at Groupama Stadium in Lyon — and in Athens where Panathinaikos played Roma. Also, players at the Lille game against Freiburg joined in a round of applause for the victims, UEFA said.
