The China Mail - Forest survive shoot-out to reach Europa League quarters, Villa advance

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.

Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Neco Williams converted Forest's three kicks to extend the club's first European campaign since 1995-96, when they reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

The Premier League strugglers will play Porto in the quarter-finals after the Portuguese outfit beat 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.

Admitting he needed his players to be "fresh mentally and and physically", Pereira prioritised Sunday's vital clash with relegation rivals Tottenham as he made nine changes from last weekend's 0-0 draw against Fulham.

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 six yards.

Midtjylland were breached again in the 52nd minute when Ryan Yates lashed home from 25 yards before Martin Erlic's 69th minute reply for the hosts.

"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 towards 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 January 3 after two months on the sidelines with a knee injury.

- Celta stun Lyon -

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, including Sunday's 3-1 defeat at Manchester United, has put their bid to qualify for the 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, while also reaching the 2019 final with Arsenal.

Villa's quarter-final opponents will be either Roma or Bologna.

Real Betis thrashed Greek side Panathinaikos 4-0 in Spain as goals from Aitor Ruibal, Sofyan Amrabat, Juan Hernandez and Antony clinched a 4-1 aggregate victory.

Betis take on Sporting Braga, who routed Ferencvaros 4-0 on Wednesday.

Celta Vigo beat nine-man Lyon 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.

Rueda ensured the Spanish side took advantage of their numerical superiority with a close-range finish in the 61st minute.

Ferran Jutgla scored in stoppage time to wrap up the victory before Lyon's Nicolas Tagliafico was dismissed for a second booking.

Celta will play Freiburg for a place in the semi-finals after the German side crushed Genk 5-1 to secure a 5-2 aggregate victory.

Matthias Ginter put hosts Freiburg ahead in the 19th minute and Igor Matanovic doubled the advantage six minutes later.

Genk's Matte Smets netted in the 39th minute, but Freiburg put the result beyond doubt with goals from Vincenzo Grifo, Yuito Suzuki and Maximilian Eggestein.

Z.Huang--ThChM