Stuttgart reach Europa League last 16, fireworks mar Forest progress

VfB Stuttgart confirmed their spot in the Europa League last 16 despite a 1-0 home loss to Celtic on Thursday, with their 4-1 victory in Glasgow last week proving crucial.

Nottingham Forest also lost their home leg to Fenerbahçe 2-1 and their players had to dodge fireworks thrown from Turkish fans, but they went through thanks to a 3-0 victory in Istanbul last Thursday.

The unsavoury scenes happened right at the start of the play-off second leg at the City Ground and there is likely to be UEFA action.

Kerem Aktürkoğlu’s goal midway through the first half and his penalty early in the second were not enough for the Turks as Callum Hudson-Odoi earned a 4-2 win on aggregate.

Ferencváros, Lille, Panathinaikos, Bologna and Celta Vigo are also in the hat for Friday’s draw. Genk v Dinamo Zagreb went to extra-time.

In Stuttgart, Luke McCowan confidently scored in the first minute for Celtic but the hosts dominated from there on. The first-leg cushion meant the Germans cruised to a 4-2 aggregate victory.

Sebastian Hoeness’ side had two goals ruled out for video review offsides and striker Deniz Undav told RTL: “The most important thing is to go through, the rest doesn’t matter.

“VAR should actually be there to help. It feels like it makes more wrong decisions than the referees themselves. It’s getting funnier and funnier.”

Stuttgart will play Porto or fellow Portuguese side Braga on March 12 and 19, with the exact pairings to be decided by Friday’s draw.

Their progression has heightened the chances of Germany joining England in having five Champions League teams next season instead of four, as per UEFA co-efficients.

Lille leave it late

Robbie Keane’s Ferencváros turned around their first-leg deficit with a 2-0 home victory over Ludogorets setting up a 3-2 aggregate win.

Gabi Kanichowsky and Norwegian Kristoffer Zachariassen, continuing a memorable week from his nation in European football, netted in the first half for the Hungarian outfit.

Lille prevailed 2-0 at Red Star Belgrade after extra-time to go through 2-1 on aggregate. Olivier Giroud headed in early in normal time to make up for last week’s surprise home defeat and substitute Nathan Ngoy clinched their last 16 place on 99 minutes.

Red Star boss Dejan Stanković remarked: “I said before the match that Lille are a serious team. They didn’t reach this stage by accident. We had moments in the second half and in extra-time.”

Rafa Benitez’s Panathinaikos beat Viktoria Plzeň 4-3 on penalties to advance despite having substitute Javi sent off in extra-time.

The game in the Czech Republic ended 1-1 in normal time after Andreas Tetteh scored from the edge of the box for his third goal across both legs for the Greeks. Karel Spáčil equalized with a strong header before a goalless extra 30 minutes left the tie at 3-3 on aggregate.

Bologna beat Brann 1-0 in Italy to ease through 2-0 overall. The Norwegians had Jacob Sørensen dismissed in the first half for a foul.

Celta won 1-0 at home to PAOK, adding to their 2-1 victory in Thessaloniki last week.