Nottingham Forest on Thursday reached the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals after Midtjylland missed all three of their penalties in their last-16 second-leg shoot-out, while John McGinn inspired Aston Villa’s 2-0 win against Lille OSC.
Vitor Pereira’s Forest won 2-1 after extra-time at the MCH Arena in Denmark to level the tie at 2-2 on aggregate.
That set up the farcical shoot-out as Midtjylland’s Cho Gue-sung and Aral Simsir both hit the post before Edward Chilufya slipped and blazed over in the shoot-out.
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Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Neco Williams converted Forest’s three kicks to extend the club’s first European campaign since 1995-1996, when they reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals.
The Premier League strugglers are to play Porto in the quarter-finals after the Portuguese outfit beat VfB Stuttgart 2-0.
William Carvalho and Victor Froholdt netted to clinch Porto’s 4-1 aggregate victory, with Stuttgart’s Nikolas Nartey sent off in the closing stages.
Saying that he needed his players to be “fresh mentally and and physically,” Pereira prioritized tomorrow’s vital clash with relegation rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League as he made nine changes from last weekend’s 0-0 draw against Fulham in the league.
Forest’s understudies rose to the challenge and took the lead in the 41st minute.
Climbing to meet Nikola Milenkovic’s flick, Nicolas Dominguez craned his neck to loop a header over Elias Olafsson from 6m out.
Midtjylland were breached again in the 52nd minute, when Ryan Yates lashed home from 25m before Martin Erlic’s 69th-minute reply for the hosts set up the shoot-out.
“It’s important, the energy and spirit is different when we win,” Pereira said. “I don’t have any doubt that we have the quality. We will compete for our targets.”
At Villa Park, Unai Emery’s side, defending a 1-0 first-leg lead, went ahead in the 54th minute with a perfectly executed route-one move.
Emiliano Martinez launched a mammoth kick toward Jadon Sancho and his pass across the Lille penalty area was tucked away with aplomb by McGinn.
It was the Scotland midfielder’s first goal since Jan. 3 after two months on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Leon Bailey’s 86th-minute tap-in from Ollie Watkins’ pass ensured Villa advanced to a European quarter-final for a third successive season.
Villa’s dismal run of two wins from 10 Premier League games has put their bid to qualify for the UEFA Champions League in jeopardy.
Yet they have thrived in continental action and Emery remains in contention for a fifth Europa League crown after winning three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.
“It wasn’t a pretty performance, but the main thing is we are in the quarter-final,” McGinn said. “The manager was giving me grief before the game to make sure I get in the box, so I was delighted to score.”
Villa face Bologna in the quarter-finals, after the Italian side beat AS Roma 4-3 in a thriller at Stadio Olimpico.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Jonathan Rowe put Bologna ahead in the 22nd minute, but Roma’s Evan N’Dicka equalized 10 minutes later.
Federico Bernardeschi’s penalty in first half stoppage-time and Santiago Castro’s 58th minute strike put Bologna 3-1 up.
Roma’s Donyell Malen converted a 69th-minute penalty and Lorenzo Pellegrini equalized in the 80th minute, but Nicolo Cambiaghi slotted home for Bologna in the 111th minute.
Real Betis Balompie thrashed Greek side Panathinaikos 4-0, booking a tie against Sporting Braga, who routed Ferencvaros 4-0 on Wednesday.
RC Celta de Vigo beat nine-man Olympique Lyonnais 2-0 in France to secure a 3-1 aggregate win.
Lyon, who finished top of the league phase, were reduced to 10 men in the 19th minute when Senegal defender Moussa Niakhate was sent off for a foul on Javi Rueda, who scored in the 61st minute.
Ferran Jutgla also scored before Lyon’s Nicolas Tagliafico was dismissed for a second booking.
Celta are to play SC Freiburg for a place in the semi-finals after the German side crushed Genk 5-1.