Stuttgart advances in Europa League despite losing to Celtic in 2nd leg. Fireworks at Forest

By Canadian Press on February 26, 2026.

Stuttgart reached the round of 16 of the Europa League despite its second-leg 1-0 home loss to Celtic on Thursday in the knockout round playoffs.

Stuttgart, which is currently fourth in the Bundesliga, advanced 4-2 on aggregate after winning the first leg 4-1 in Glasgow.

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 much improved performance ahead of Celtic’s visit to arch rival Rangers in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

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 will play Braga or Porto next. The draw for the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals is scheduled for Friday.

Veteran striker Olivier Giroud scored early for Lille which was enough to force extra time in Belgrade against host Red Star. Substitute Nathan Ngoy netted the winner 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.

Panathinaikos prevailed 4-3 in a penalty shootout over Viktoria Plzeň 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 put the Greek visitors ahead from the edge of the area early in the Czech city of Plzeň. Karel Spáčil headed an equalizer in the second half, forcing extra time which was goalless.

In Budapest, Ferencváros advanced 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-0 second-leg win over Ludogorets with first-half goals from Gabi Kanichowsky and Kristoffer Zachariassen.

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 André.

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 Fenerbahce fans at the start of their second leg at the City Ground.

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.

Forest won the first leg 3-0 with Vítor Pereira making an impact in his first game in charge of the English club, which is struggling at 17th place in the Premier League. Forest returned to Europe after three decades this season and has not conceded a goal in its last three home games in the European second-tier competition.

Host Genk takes a 3-1 lead into its home match against Dinamo Zagreb. Bologna hosts Norwegian side Brann, which lost the opening leg 1-0.

Celta holds a 2-1 lead over PAOK.

Fiorentina advances in Conference League

Fiorentina needed extra time to 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 side with a hat trick to force extra time. But substitutes Nicolo Fagioli and an own-goal in extra time proved enough for the Italian team despite Jagiellonia winning 4-2 on the night.

Two-time finalist Fiorentina advanced to the round of 16 with a 5-4 aggregate score.

Crystal Palace has work to do at home after it was held 1-1 by Zrinjski Mostar in Bosnia.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Karel Janicek, The Associated Press