Progress to the quarter-finals of the competition that made Unai Emery’s reputation, the Europa League continues to offer sanctuary for Aston Villa. Their second leg with Lille was completed without drama, the welcome sight of John McGinn’s goal soothing fans’ nerves. Villa had sorely missed their Scottish standard bearer, though the contributions of Emi Martínez, in making a save then launching an attack, and Jadon Sancho in supplying McGinn in a flowing move that took 15 seconds were equally crucial.
“The matches were not so brilliant,” said Emery, who qualified for the competition’s quarter-final for the eighth time, a record; he has won it four times previously.
2 min: … but that was a fast start by Villa, and they’ve clearly been told to get right into Lille during the early exchanges. They’re first to everything at the moment. Small sample size, admittedly.
1 min: Abraham gets lively quickly. He steals the ball off a snoozing Bouaddi and feeds McGinn down the inside-left channel. McGinn attempts something spectacular from distance. It doesn’t come off, dribbling harmlessly wide right.
Forest made their first European quarter-final in 30 years, wining 2-1 on the night and 3-0 on penalties to set up a last-eight meeting with either Porto or Stuttgart
Question: what is the exact thing the Premier League – and wider world of football – does not need?
Nottingham Forest seek to overturn a one-goal Europa League deficit against a familiar foe who were early champions of the set piece
“I like a bit of chaos and structure both on and off the pitch,” says Midtjylland’s technical director, Kristian Kjær. “Getting the right mix is most important.” Perfecting this balance has enabled the Danish side to thrive in Europe, powered by a global recruitment model and innovation.
Nottingham Forest travel to the MCH Arena on Thursday seeking to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, having also lost to Midtjylland in the group stage this season. This is the furthest the Danish club, founded in 1999, have progressed in Europe. “It must have been insane to be starting the club [just over] 25 years ago and then see where we are today,” says Kjær. “What a ride.”
Club owner Marinakis has made it clear relegation is unacceptable
Manager will rest players against Midtjylland ahead of Tottenham
Vitor Pereira has conceded it is a “pity” Nottingham Forest feel compelled to prioritise the Premier League over the Europa League, with the head coach saying the owner, Evangelos Marinakis, has stressed that domestic survival is king.
The fiercely ambitious Marinakis targeted European silverware after the club returned to continental competition for the first time since 1995-96, but though Forest are attempting to overturn a first-leg deficit in the last-16 against Midtjylland, there is an acceptance that relegation to the Championship would be a disaster.
Apart from the weather forecast, here’s a match-by-match guide of other things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.
“Erling Haaland’s first competitive outing in English football came at the London Stadium. He ran riot that day, scoring twice as Manchester City opened the 2022-23 season with victory over West Ham, and this venue has been a happy hunting ground for Haaland ever since. He found the net in another win in September 2023 and bagged a hat-trick there last season, but he is in patchy form before City visit West Ham for a must-win game on Saturday night.”
It never rains but it pours. Nottingham Forest, forced to cut their ticket prices twice this week to entice a capacity crowd back to the City Ground, can’t seem to buy a win at the moment. Twice now they have lost to FC Midtjylland in this competition this season after the substitute Cho Gue-sung further dampened their spirits with the only goal on a night when a second-half deluge was so severe the ball started getting stuck in puddles.
What a muddle Forest find themselves in: above the relegation zone only on goal difference, their fourth manager of the season, Vítor Pereira, is without a win in his five games since an opening triumph in Fenerbahce set up this last-16 window of opportunity. But as the Danish players celebrated with their hardy, bare-chested fans in a small, sodden but voluble corner of the Bridgford Stand, Pereira warned them they are far from home and dry.
Given what had gone before, Unai Emery stressed afterwards, this was a significant victory and a deeply satisfying takeaway for Aston Villa.
In meetings with his squad, he referenced how none of the six Premier League teams in the Champions League last 16 had triumphed this week and as many as four of them may have suffered irrecoverable damage. Then there were the memories of Villa coming here two years ago, when they almost came unstuck in the Conference League quarter-finals, when Emiliano Martínez reannounced himself as public enemy No 1 and made two penalty shootout saves.
Gue-Sung Cho’s second-half header gives Nottingham Forest work to do going into their second leg against Midtjylland
4 min: Off the line! Murillo has to come to Forest’s rescue after Billing gets to the byline and crosses for Brumado. His header is well placed and eludes Sels but not Murillo, who hooks it clear.
2 min: Forest have lined up with a back three with Callum Hudson-Odoi at left wing-back and Ola Aina on the right. Omari Hutchinson is in a more central role.
So where is the game? Well, Villa will look to get Rogers on the ball, coming inside off the left. He won’t keep the width in attack, which’ll be supplied by Lucas Digne; rather, he’ll wander about in the inside-left half-space looking to get shots off. Otherwise, Buendia will slip balls down the sides of the centre-backs for Ollie Watkins, while Amadou Onana and Douglas Luiz look to bottle up the middle of the pitch in front of the defence.
Tangentially, the kit Keown wore when he started at Villa is an absolute jazzer.
Union of European Clubs wants to help non-elite teams
Its plan relates to revenue from Uefa club competitions
Competitive balance across Europe’s leagues would be transformed with the adoption of a new model for distributing revenue from the Champions League and other Uefa club competitions, according to a proposal by the Union of European Clubs (UEC).
Clubs competing in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League benefit this season from a bumper €3.317bn (£2.87bn) prize pot, culled from annual €4.4bn revenue primarily generated by media rights sales. Only €308m of the latter figure is divided among clubs who did not reach those competitions, in the form of solidarity payments.
For 67 minutes, Nottingham Forest were at risk of matching an unwanted record. At that point Fenerbahce were 2-0 up and full of belief that they could achieve the miracle their head coach, Domenico Tedesco, had been manifesting since their 3-0 first-leg defeat in Istanbul.
Only one team in the history of European club competitions have lost the first leg of a tie by a three-goal margin at home and advanced in the second. Up in the directors’ box, Evangelos Marinakis, more than an interested party on that occasion, presumably had flashbacks of Olympiakos suffering a 4-1 home defeat by Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Conference League two years ago, only to triumph 6-1 in Serbia in the second leg.
Martin O’Neill delivered a little piece of history in what will surely be his final European fixture as a manager. He created such wonderful memories for Celtic’s support in this domain during his first tenure that departing with a smile felt appropriate. In Stuttgart, Celtic won their first competitive game in Germany. It took them 17 attempts. “The evening is nothing to do with me,” said O’Neill with needless self-deprecation.
Luke McCowan’s goal inside 30 seconds was irrelevant in the broader context of this tie. Stuttgart’s 4-1 canter in Glasgow a week earlier ensured that. Still, a game that had the whiff of irrelevance for Celtic delivered unexpected cheer. The statistics will show Stuttgart spent much of the evening camped in Celtic’s half – the hosts had 24 attempts at goal – but the Scottish champions played with a diligence and discipline that is worthy of huge credit. Sebastian Tounekti should even have delivered a second Celtic goal in the closing minutes. By then, Stuttgart were going through the motions.
Two goals from Kerem Akturkoglu put Forest under pressure, but Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal calmed things and they saw out a 4-2 aggregate win
On the telly, they’ve just been discussing James McAtee, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he does tonight. City are now in that spot United were under Alex Ferguson, where clubs buy their players because they know the standard can be too high for good ones to make it and respect the managers who keep them around. He’s got a lovely touch and decent vision, but does he have the ability to impose that? We don’t yet know.
Forest actually did pretty well to keep as many players as they did after last season – and getting £52m+£3m for Anthony Elanga was a remarkable piece of business. I’m not sure Anderson will still be around after the summer, whereas Gibbs-White has a contract – but there surely comes a point at which players don’t trust Marinakis with their careers and just want to up sticks from the upheaval.
Celtic’s manager, Martin O’Neill, has delivered a withering assessment of VAR in Scottish football after what he called the “ridiculous” dismissal of Auston Trusty during Sunday’s loss by Hibernian.
Trusty’s red card and a failed Celtic appeal mean the centre-back will miss three crucial Scottish Premiership games, starting with Sunday’s Old Firm visit to Ibrox. O’Neill claimed VAR actions must be “debilitating” for on-field officials.
Gute Ausgangslage für den VfB: Im Playoff-Hinspiel der Europa League gewinnen die Schwaben gegen Celtic Glasgow mit 4:1 (2:1). Das Rückspiel findet kommende Woche Donnerstag statt.
For Nottingham Forest, and particularly Vítor Pereira and the 1,200 supporters who signed up to this trip, an evening in Istanbul they will not forget in a hurry.
After just three training sessions, Pereira’s first match in charge could scarcely have been more impressive than the statement victory Forest recorded at Fenerbahce to put themselves in command to reach the Europa League last 16. By the end, the yellow and navy stronghold had emptied and the Forest fans present savoured every moment. “Can we play you every week?” they sang, and then: “Where’s your famous atmosphere?”
It is just as well Martin O’Neill wanted no celebration of his 1,000th game in professional management. Stuttgart’s visit became men versus Bhoys and a deflating scene for anybody of Celtic persuasion.
This messiest of Celtic seasons, featuring umpteen managers and a similar number of low points has now featured supporters booing their own goalkeeper. Fans decided Kasper Schmeichel’s failure to keep out Jamie Leweling’s 57th-minute shot was a blunder too far. Schmeichel’s subsequent touches were jeered, albeit there was nothing he could do about the goal from Tiago Tomás in stoppage time that added gloss to Stuttgart’s position. The second leg feels like a fixture O’Neill could very much do without, coming days before a crucial visit to Ibrox.
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