Stuttgart, Nottingham Forest advance in Europa League
Fenerbahce earned a rare 2-1 win in England but was still knocked out of the second-tier Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs on Thursday. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round of 16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in its return to Europe after three decades. It will next face Real Betis or Midtjylland.
Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce a 1-0 first-half lead and sent goalkeeper Stefan Ortega the wrong way from the spot early in the second half with his second. Coming into the game, Fenerbahce had managed to win only one of its last 10 matches in England. Second-half substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi calmed the nerves of the hosts by scoring in the 68th minute at the City Ground. Like in the Champions League, the top eight finishers in the league phase advanced automatically to the last 16. The teams placed from nine to 24 entered a two-leg playoff.
Stuttgart advanced 4-2 overall after its second-leg 1-0 home loss to Celtic. Veteran striker Olivier Giroud scored early for Lille, which was enough to force extra time in Belgrade against host Red Star. Substitute Nathan Ngoy then struck nine minutes into extra time as Lille beat Red Star 2-0 for a 2-1 aggregate victory to set up a last-16 game against Aston Villa or Lyon. Bologna again won 1-0 to seal a 2-0 aggregate victory against 10-man Brann, and Celta completed a 3-1 aggregate win by beating PAOK 1-0. Genk scored twice in extra time in a 3-3 second-leg thriller against 10-man Dinamo Zagreb to win 6-4 overall.
Panathinaikos prevailed 4-3 in a penalty shootout over Viktoria Plzen after a 2-2 draw in the first leg and 1-1 at the end of extra time on Thursday for 3-3 overall. Andreas Tetteh had put the Greek visitors ahead from the edge of the area early in the Czech city of Plzen. Karel Spacil headed an equalizer in the second half, forcing extra time which was goalless. In Budapest, Ferencvaros advanced 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-0 second-leg win over Ludogorets with first-half goals from Gabi Kanichowsky and Kristoffer Zachariassen.
The draw for the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals is scheduled for Friday. Celtic improves but still goes out Stuttgart, which is currently fourth in the Bundesliga, easily won the first leg 4-1 in Glasgow but found the second leg much harder. Celtic restored some pride with Luke McCowan putting the visitors ahead in the opening minute of the match. After a first leg to forget for Martin O’Neill, in what was his 1,000th career game overall as manager, this was a morale-boosting performance ahead of Celtic’s visit to arch rival Rangers in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday. Stuttgart will play Braga or Porto next. Giroud on target again: The 39-year-old Giroud has rediscovered his scoring touch at the right time.
Giroud erased the 1-0 deficit from the opening leg in Lille, heading home from close range after meeting a cross from captain Benjamin Andre. It was his fourth goal in the competition and came just days after Giroud scored in a 1-0 victory at Angers in the French league. That was his first league goal since November. Fireworks at Forest: Nottingham Forest players were forced to dodge fireworks thrown onto the field by visiting Fenerbahce fans at the start of their second leg.
Moments after the match kicked off, there was a three-minute delay as sections of a 1,500-strong away end launched several fireworks into the Forest penalty area. Fiorentina advances in Conference League: Fiorentina needed extra time to eventually prevail after throwing away its 3-0 lead from the first leg at Jagiellonia Bialystok in the third-tier Conference League.
Bartosz Mazurek led the comeback for the Polish visitors with a hat trick to force extra time. But substitute Nicolo Fagioli and an own-goal then proved enough for the Italian team despite Jagiellonia winning 4-2 on the night. Jesus Imaz scored in the 118th to set up an exciting finish as two-time finalist Fiorentina advanced to the round of 16 with a 5-4 aggregate score.
Another favorite, Crystal Palace, joined the Italian club in the next round after beating Bosnian side Zrinjski Mostar 2-0 at home and a 3-1 aggregate victory for the unsettled Premier League club. Manager Oliver Glasner, who led Palace to its first major trophy last season by winning the FA Cup, has already confirmed he’s leaving his job at the end of the season and has been non-committal about whether he would even be staying that long.
