Nottingham Forest beats Midtjylland on penalties to reach the Europa League quarterfinals

By Canadian Press on March 19, 2026.

Nottingham Forest reached the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday after prevailing over Midtjylland on penalties in Denmark.

Substitutes Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangaré and Neco Williams all converted from the spot while Midtjylland missed all three of their penalties.

Midtjylland had stunned Forest 1-0 in the round-of-16 first leg at the City Ground, but Nicolás Domínguez and Ryan Yates scored for the visitors Thursday.

It seemed the English team was heading for the last eight before Midtjylland’s Martin Erlić scored to make the aggregate score 2-2 to force extra time.

Forest coach Vítor Pereira had rested several first-choice players ahead of a key Premier League game against Tottenham on Sunday. Both teams are just above the relegation zone.

League winners out

Nine-man Lyon, the winner of the league phase, was eliminated by Celta Vigo in a 2-0 home loss following a 1-1 draw in Spain.

A red card for Lyon defender Moussa Niakhaté in the 19th minute proved to be decisive.

Celta kept Lyon goalkeeper Dominik Greif busy until Javi Rueda’s close-range finish on the hour. Ferran Jutgla added the second on a counter in stoppage time. Shortly after that, Nicolás Tagliafico also received a red card.

Celta will meet Freiburg in the quarterfinals. The German team reached the last eight for the first time after easing to a 5-1 home win over Genk to overturn a 1-0 loss from the first leg in Belgium.

Villa aims at quarterfinal again

Aston Villa stands a good chance of advancing to the quarterfinals of a European competition for the third straight year.

The Premier League side needs to protect a 1-0 advantage from Lille in the return leg of the Europa League round of 16 at Villa Park late Thursday.

Two years ago, Villa and Lille met in the Conference League quarterfinals and Emery’s side advanced on penalties. Last season, Villa was eliminated in the Champions League quarterfinals by eventual winner Paris Saint-Germain.

An all-Italian derby between Roma and Bologna is all square at 1-1 ahead of the second leg in Rome.

Porto has to defend a 2-1 advantage against Stuttgart and Real Betis is a goal down against visiting Panathinaikos.

Sarr saves Crystal Palace

In the third-tier Conference League, Ismaïla Sarr scored his second goal in extra time to lift Crystal Palace 2-1 over 10-man Larnaca and send the English team to the last eight in its first European campaign. The teams drew 0-0 last week in London.

Sarr put Crystal Palace ahead before Enric Saborit equalized, forcing extra time in Cyprus. Saborit was later ejected.

Crystal Palace will next face two-time runner-up Fiorentina, which won 2-1 at Polish team Rakow for a 4-2 aggregate win.

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

Karel Janicek, The Associated Press