Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in the Europa League

Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are through to the quarter-finals of Europe’s second-tier competition and are dreaming of winning their first European title of the 21st century.

Aston Villa built on their first-leg result and once again beat Lille at Villa Park. Whilst Unai Emery’s side won by the narrowest of margins on French soil, in Birmingham they doubled their lead to seal the tie with a clean sheet, making it clear why they are among the hot favourites to win the Europa League. The Basque manager is chasing his fifth title, and he has the squad to achieve it.

Nottingham Forest had a tougher time of it. In the first leg, they lost to a solitary goal from Midtjylland, but in the return leg they were far superior to the Danes. However, they could only manage a narrow victory and were unable to capitalise on their superior play in extra time. In the penalty shoot-out, however, they demonstrated their superior quality by scoring all three of their spot-kicks to their opponents’ none.

In the other Europa League round of 16 ties, the standout results were the elimination of Olympique Lyonnais, one of the title favourites, by Celta Vigo, as well as Bologna’s victory over Roma at the Stadio Olimpico to win the all-Italian clash. Betis came from behind to beat Panathinaikos, Braga beat Ferencvaros, and Freiburg beat Genk. Porto gave Stuttgart no chance of an upset.

Europa League Round of 16 results

Braga 4-0 Ferencvaros (4-2 on aggregate)
Midtjylland 1-2 Nottingham Forest (2-2 on aggregate, 0-3 on penalties)
Olympique Lyon 0-2 Celta Vigo (1-3 on aggregate)
Freiburg 5-1 Genk (5-2 on aggregate)
Roma 3-4 Bologna (4-5 on aggregate)
Betis 4-0 Panathinaikos (4-1 on aggregate)
Porto 2-0 Stuttgart (4-1 on aggregate)
Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (3-0 on aggregate)

Quarter-finals decided

The Europa League thus enters its decisive phase. Following the international break, the quarter-finals will be played. The first legs will take place on Thursday 9 April, whilst the second legs will be a week later, on 16 April. Each day there will be one match at 17:45 and three at 20:00.

Aston Villa will face Bologna, with the first leg in Italy and the second leg at Villa Park. Nottingham Forest will also play the second leg at home, but will travel to Portugal for the first leg to face Porto. The other two ties will see Freiburg take on Celta Vigo and Braga face Betis, with the second legs in both cases being played in Spain.

Should Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest both reach the semi-finals, they will face each other. The first leg would be at the City Ground and the second leg at Villa Park. There could also be an all-Spanish semi-final between Betis and Celta Vigo, with the first leg at La Cartuja and the second leg at Balaídos.