Europa League: These are the 8 Teams that Qualified for the Quarterfinals

London, MINA – Aston Villa and Real Betis made it through the UEFA Europa League round of 16 after home wins, Bologna won an all-Italian thriller at Roma, and it took a penalty shoot-out for Nottingham Forest to overcome Midtjylland.

Reported by Dhaka Tribune, UEFA round up the action from the second legs on Thursday.

Roma 3-4 Bologna (agg: 4-5, aet)

Evan N’Dicka’s header cancelled out Jonathan Rowe’s thumping opener for Bologna, but Federico Bernardeschi’s penalty put the Rossoblù back ahead at the break. Santiago Castro’s strike gave Bologna a two-goal cushion, but Donyell Malen’s spot-kick and Lorenzo Pellegrini’s finish took the tie to extra time, where Nicolò Cambiaghi’s 111th-minute strike proved decisive.

Midtjylland 1-2 Nottingham Forest (agg: 2-2, Forest win 3-0 on pens)

Ryan Yates had hit the bar before Nicolás Domínguez headed Forest level in the tie in the 41st minute. Yates struck from distance after the restart, but Martin Erlić’s finish levelled matters again. Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangaré and Neco Williams then converted in the shoot-out as Midtjylland drew a blank, Forest reaching the last eight, as they did in their last campaign in this competition 30 years ago.

Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg: 3-0)

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez’s distribution sparked the second-half counterattacks that led to Villa’s goals. Lille were looking sharp, with a Nabil Bentaleb free-kick saved by Martínez before the Argentinian sent the ball long to Jadon Sancho, who squared for John McGinn to settle Villa nerves. Another Martínez ball was the spur as substitute Leon Bailey put away Villa’s second on 86 minutes.

Porto 2-0 Stuttgart (agg: 4-1)

A Victor Froholdt screamer and Diogo Costa’s goalkeeping helped Porto set up a tie with Nottingham Forest. Diogo Costa had already made several big saves – including two from Chris Führich – when William Gomes tapped in against the run of play. After more Diogo Costa interventions, Froholdt arrowed brilliantly into the top corner, Nikolas Nartey’s late dismissal adding to Stuttgart’s frustration.

Lyon 0-2 Celta Vigo (agg: 1-3)

Lyon were on the back foot following Moussa Niakhaté’s 19th-minute dismissal, and fell behind soon after the hour mark when Javi Rueda (who netted the opener in the 1-1 draw in Vigo seven days ago) steered in Hugo Álvarez’s cutback. Substitute Ferran Jutglà made sure of the victory late on via a composed effort, before Nicolás Tagliafico’s last-gasp dismissal left Lyon with just nine men.

Real Betis 4-0 Panathinaikos (agg: 4-1)

Real Betis were in complete control as they beat Panathinaikos to secure a date with Braga, and a first-ever Europa League quarter-finals appearance. Aitor Ruibal levelled the aggregate score after eight minutes before Sofyan Amrabat scored from range in first-half added time. Cucho Hernández made it three on the night before Antony put the icing on the cake with a smart finish in off the post.

Freiburg 5-1 Genk (agg: 5-2)

Hometown hero Matthias Ginter headed the tie level, and then set up Igor Matanović to bundle Freiburg in front, but Matte Smets levelled the aggregate score before the break. A defensive blunder then gifted Vincenzo Grifo a club-record 106th Freiburg goal before efforts on the break from Yuito Suzuki and Maximilian Eggestein confirmed the German side’s first ever European quarter-final place, and a tie against Celta.

Braga 4-0 Ferencváros (agg: 4-2)

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, the Arsenalistas were in front on aggregate by half-time, captain Ricardo Horta tapping in from Rodrigo Zalazar’s cross before Florian Grillitsch struck from outside the box, with Gabri Martínez producing a composed run and finish to make it 3-0. Horta then curled in superbly from Grillitsch’s delivery eight minutes after the restart as the Portuguese side advanced. []

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)