Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest reach Europa League quarter-finals
Crystal Palace into Conference League last eight
Report: Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (3-0 agg)
Report: Midtjylland 1-2 Nottingham Forest (agg 2-2, 0-3 on penalties)
Report: AEK Larnaca 1-2 Crystal Palace (agg 1-2)
That is all for this live page on a great night for English clubs with Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa all marching on to the quarter-finals of their European tournaments.
Thanks as always for joining us and for your comments.
Until next time, bye for now.
The Europa League quarter-finals are...
Tonight's results...
FT: Roma 3-4 Bologna (agg 4-5)
It is Bologna next for Aston Villa as they edged a thriller in Italy against fellow Serie A side Roma.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Bologna, eighth in Serie A, stormed into a 3-1 lead in Rome, only for Roma to score twice to make it 3-3 and take it to extra time.
But Nicolò Cambiaghi is Bologna's hero with the winning goal in extra time to seal a superb 4-3 away win and a 5-4 triumph on aggregate.
The first leg will be in Italy on 9 April, before the return at Villa Park a week later. Villa played Bologna in the first match of the league phase, winning 1-0 at home thanks to a John McGinn goal.
FT: Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter at Villa Park
Skipper John McGinn and Leon Bailey fired Aston Villa into the Europa League quarter-finals with a composed victory over Lille.
The Scotland international set up a match against Roma or Bologna in the last eight as Villa won 3-0 on aggregate.
Unai Emery - a four-time Europa League winner - is a step closer to ending Villa's 30-year trophy drought, which would also earn the club a return to the Champions League.
It was an ultimately forgettable game which suited Villa as Lille rarely threatened, with Ollie Watkins' goal in France last week giving the hosts their platform for success.
Victory comes amid awful Premier League form, with two wins from 10 games, which has meant Villa's place in the top five has come under threat but European success can help inspire a recovery.
Tammy Abraham and Amadou Onana forced Berke Ozer into smart stops before McGinn struck in the second half, finishing off a quick break after goalkeeper Emi Martinez launched a perfect pass to Jadon Sancho after saving Nabil Bentaleb's free-kick.
Sancho then hit the post before Bailey tapped in his first Villa goal for a year with five minutes left as they finished off their Ligue 1 visitors.
FT: Midtjylland 1-2 Nottingham Forest (agg 2-2, 0-3 pens)
Chris McKenna
BBC Sport
Nottingham Forest secured a Europa League quarter-final place with a penalty shootout win over Danish side Midtjylland following a dramatic last-16 tie.
Cho Gue-Sung and Aral Simsir both struck the same post for Midtjylland in the shootout before Edward Chilufya slipped and also missed, while Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Neco Williams all scored from the spot to send Forest through.
Vitor Pereira's side now face a quarter-final against either Stuttgart or Porto next month as they put their Premier League struggles behind them to continue their European quest.
Forest midfielder Ryan Yates arrowed a low strike from 20 yards into the corner to put his side ahead in the tie, after Nicolas Dominguez had headed the visitors in front on the night and level on aggregate before half-time.
Then Midtjylland defender Martin Erlic forced extra time by pulling one back for the hosts when he found the net from inside the area.
But Forest would not be denied and got through as they came back from a first-leg deficit.
Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Aston Villa's John McGinn speaking to TNT Sports: "Delighted. It was a slow first half, personally as well trying to get back up to speed. It wasn’t a pretty performance but the main thing is we are in the quarter-final."
On Emi Martinez's pass for his goal and Jadon Sancho's performance: "It was brilliant from Emi but it highlights Jadon’s performance, his best in a Villa shirt. He was man of the match tonight by a mile. The manager was giving me grief before the game to make sure I get in the box and he gave it to me.
"They defended very well in the first half but we did go a bit more direct in the second half, the manager tweaked it and it paid dividends."
On his return from injury: "It is difficult when the team is not doing well and you’re in the physio room. I got over it pretty quickly, I knew it could have been more serious and I just wanted to do my rehab properly. I’ve made mistakes before, trying to cut corners with rehab but I didn’t do that this time."
On goal target for this season: "I never used to set goal targets but the manager sets targets on the forward players. I want to try to target 10 goals every season, I’ve not managed to do that yet but hopefully this season is the year. It is up on us forward players and wide players to take the pressure off Ollie [Watkins]."
On Martinez: "He’s a mad man. I know he’s a family man but he is a big kid inside, a lively character and a top goalkeeper but even at 2-0 he made a great save.
"It was great to get a clean sheet, good performance and send the Villa fans home happy. Hopefully it is the same on Sunday."
The Conference League quarter-finals are...
And these were today's results...
FT: AEK Larnaca 1-2 Crystal Palace (agg 1-2)
Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport
Ismaila Sarr scored twice as Crystal Palace edged past nine-man AEK Larnaca in extra time to move into the quarter-finals of the Conference League.
The Senegal forward opened the scoring in the 13th minute to hand Oliver Glasner's side the perfect start in Cyprus following their first-leg goalless draw in south London a week ago.
Spanish defender Enric Saborit headed in a 63rd-minute equaliser after the break before being sent-off for a second yellow card 10 minutes later, as the hosts took the tie to extra time.
And it was left to Sarr to deliver the decisive contribution in the 99th minute as he steered in Daichi Kamada's low cross from close range set up a meeting with Fiorentina in the last eight.
The closing minutes were marred by the dismissal of another Larnaca defender Petros Ioannou for a studs-first rash challenge on Jean-Philippe Mateta, while home supporters threw cups and other objects on to the pitch.
Palace's victory ensured they gained some measure of revenge for their league-phase defeat to the Cypriot side at Selhurst Park in October.
With the international break, they don't play next until the first leg of their quarter-final tie with Fiorentina on 9 April.
FT: Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Leon Bailey scored 99 seconds after coming on as a substitute for Aston Villa, the second fastest sub goal in the Europa League this season after Nottingham Forest's Igor Jesus vs Utrecht in a 2-1 win in December (80 seconds).
FT: Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Unai Emery has reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League for the eighth time, no other manager has done so more than five times.
Aston Villa will be the fifth club the Spaniard will take into this round of the competition, after Valencia (twice), Sevilla (three times), Arsenal and Villarreal.
He has won the tournament three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.
Image source, Getty ImagesAston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Aston Villa winger Jadon Sancho to TNT Sports: "It is a lovely feeling [to go through]. Tonight has been incredible with the fans. We struck to the game plan, that’s what we needed and hopefully we keep that momentum into the Premier League."
On John McGinn being back from injury: "We’ve missed him a lot. He’s a great guy to be around, brings a lot of energy into the changing room. So happy to have him back and happy to assist him today."
On chances of winning Europa League: "We have got to take it game by game, it is a tough competition, Europe is very different. We stuck to the game plan, we worked hard on and off the ball, if we keep [doing] this I’m sure we can go very far in this competition."
Roma 3-3 Bologna (agg 4-4, 90 mins)
Villa are through, but we will have to wait to find out who they play as Roma versus Bologna has gone to extra time. Roma recovered from 3-1 down to make it 3-3 and 4-4 on aggregate in a classic.
Nottingham Forest have a two-legged quarter-final against Portuguese side Porto, who have won 2-0 against Stuttgart to seal a 4-1 aggregate triumph.
FT: Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Dion Dublin
Former Aston Villa striker on BBC Radio 5 Live at Villa Park
The players have done a professional job and I think there is more to come from them.
Image source, Getty ImagesAston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Three English teams out of three advance in European competitions tonight.
Aston Villa follow on from earlier wins for Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace. Goals from John McGinn and Leon Bailey give Villa a 2-0 win at Villa Park to seal a 3-0 overall success.
Villa in a European quarter-final for a third successive season.
Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Harvey Elliott almost gets a goal, but is denied by Berke Ozer, bravely diving at him to gather the ball.
Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Villa are almost gifted a third tonight with some poor goalkeeping from Berke Ozer when playing out from the back, but he quickly recovers by diving at Ollie Watkins' feet.
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As a Villa fan who was at the 1963 League Cup Final against Birmingham City and well over a 1,000 games since, I am living the dream under Emery. Trust Unai.
Bonnie, Birmingham
Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
A second disallowed goal for Lille and for Olivier Giroud as he heads into the net, but the ball had already gone out before the cross from Matias Fernandez-Pardo.
Aston Villa 2-0 Lille (agg 3-0)
Dion Dublin
Former Aston Villa striker on BBC Radio 5 Live at Villa Park
Aston Villa are just doing enough to get to the next round. They will need to up their performances if they want to get to the latter stages of this competition.
It's not been an outstanding performance but Aston Villa have done what they needed. They got that goal, that comfort blanket. Lille did well in the first half but Villa have just done enough.
Image source, Getty Images
Leon Bailey
VAR check, but the goal stands and that is job done for Aston Villa.
Lille have men pushed forwards and that leaves them fragile at the back. A ball is played forwards to Ollie Watkins and Villa have an overload and Watkins is unselfish and he plays it to Leon Bailey who has the simple task of tapping into the unguarded goal.
Manager: Unai Emery
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Bruno Génésio
Formation: 3 - 4 - 3
Manager: Unai Emery
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Bruno Génésio
Formation: 3 - 4 - 3
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Aston Villa’s only previous time hosting Lille in major European competition came in the 2023-24 UEFA Conference League, winning 2-1 in the first leg of a quarter-final tie; the Villans lost 2-1 in the second leg but did eventually progress on penalties.
Lille have never won on nine previous visits to England in major European competition (D1 L8), losing their last seven in a row since a 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford in the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Aston Villa have won each of their last six UEFA Europa League games and the only English team to put together a longer winning streak in the competition are Chelsea between April 2013 and November 2018, an eight-match run which encompassed the 2012-13 final.
Lille have lost six games in the UEFA Europa League this season, their outright most defeats in a major European campaign – they have also lost three of their last four away matches, but did beat Crvena Zvezda 2-0 in the previous round.
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins will be looking to score in back-to-back major European appearances for the first time since April 2024, when the second goal came against Lille in the UEFA Conference League; four of the Englishman’s last five goals in Europe have come in the knockout stages, with Lille one of two sides he has netted more than once against (also AZ).
