Sancho goal sends Aston Villa to Europa League last 16
Jadon Sancho scored his first goal for Aston Villa to lift his new club past Fenerbahce 1-0 and into the Europa League round of 16 with a game to spare. Lyon also clinched a last-16 spot with a 1-0 victory over Young Boys in Bern, and Freiburg joined them by beating Maccabi Tel Aviv by the same score. Lyon and Villa are level on points (18) with six wins and a loss atop the standings with one game to go in the league phase. Freiburg is one point behind in third.
Like in the Champions League, the top eight finishers advance automatically after eight rounds to the round of 16, while the teams placed from nine to 24 enter a two-leg playoff to progress.
Sancho, who joined Villa on a season-long loan from Manchester United in September, met a deflected cross from Matty Cash to hand Villa the victory. Villa manager Unai Emery had a string of injured players unavailable, including captain John McGinn and defensive midfielder Boubacar Kamara. Emery has won the Europa League trophy four times during stints in charge of Sevilla and Villarreal.
Top teams
Ainsley Maitland-Niles delivered for Lyon in first-half stoppage time for the French team’s 1-0 win over Young Boys. Freiburg got a late goal from Igor Matanovic for the Bundesliga club to beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0.
Joachim Soltvedt converted from the spot in the 10th minute of stoppage time to salvage a 3-3 home draw for Norwegian side Brann against Midtjylland that dropped the Danish club to fourth place on 16 points.
Morgan Gibbs-White missed an opportunity to put Nottingham Forest ahead when Braga goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek saved his spot kick early in the second half. Less than a minute later, the Portuguese hosts took a 1-0 lead on Ryan Yates’ own goal. The Premier League club couldn’t equalise and saw substitute Elliot Anderson dismissed in stoppage time.
Braga is fifth, level on points with Midtjylland. At Stadio Olimpico, Niccolo Pisilli scored twice for Roma to beat Stuttgart 2-0 and move to sixth on 15 points. Ferencvaros dropped to seventh after it was held 1-1 by Panathinaikos. Real Betis lost 2-0 at PAOK, with captain Andrija Zivkovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis scoring second-half goals and has 14 points in eighth, the same as Porto in ninth.
Porto and Viktoria Plzen drew 1-1. Samu wasted a penalty for Porto, awarded after Plzen captain Matej Vydra handled the ball in an effort to prevent the visitors from scoring and received the straight red card. Substitute Deniz Gul netted the equaliser in the final minute for the Portuguese side.
Celtic draws
Ten-man Celtic marked a return of coach Martin O’Neill to Europe with a 2-2 draw in Bologna. Reo Hatate put Celtic ahead early before collecting two quick yellow cards and being sent off in the 34th minute. Celtic still stretched the lead through United States international Auston Trusty late in the first half.
Bologna came back in the second to salvage a point after goals from Thijs Dallinga and Jonathan Rowe. Celtic was 24th. Its Glasgow rival, Rangers, finally claimed a win in the campaign, 1-0 over Ludogorets, but their four points are not enough to make the knockout stage.Sturm helps
Sturm Graz used a one-time kit in their match at Feyenoord without the name of its beer sponsor. Due to a ban on advertising alcohol in the Netherlands, Sturm players wore black jerseys with a message in white letters that read: “Stop Violence Against Women,” part of the club’s initiative “Sturm Helps.”
Sturm said UEFA “responded very helpfully and openly” to its request for the change. A limited edition of the jerseys has been on sale while those used in Rotterdam were set to be auctioned after the game that Feyenoord won 3-0.
