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Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie.
Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net.
Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper.
Midtjylland players celebrate after their UEFA Europa League win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in Nottingham, England, on Thursday.
Photo: AFP
Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho Gue-sung heading in an 80th-minute winner in Nottingham.
Forest pressed throughout, but failed to find the back of the net amid heavy rain at the City Ground and face a tough job in Denmark in the second leg with a crucial match against Fulham in the Premier League awaiting tomorrow.
Nottingham also lost to Midtjylland at home in the opening phase in October last year.
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, top, trips over Lille OSC goalkeeper Berke Ozer during their UEFA Europa League match at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, France, on Thursday.
Photo: AP
Elsewhere, Brazil forward Endrick scored late to salvage a 1-1 draw for Olympique Lyonnais against 10-man RC Celta de Vigo.
Celta led on a first-half goal by Javi Rueda before striker Borja Iglesias received the second yellow card 10 minutes into the second half.
In an all-Italian derby, Bologna and AS Roma drew 1-1 in the first leg.
Porto took home a 2-1 advantage from VfB Stuttgart. Terem Moffi and Rodrigo Mora scored six minutes apart in the first half for Porto before Deniz Undav netted for Stuttgart before the interval.
Another Bundesliga team, SC Freiburg, need to overturn a 1-0 defeat to Genk in Belgium.
In Athens, Vicente Taborda converted from the spot two minutes from time as Panathinaikos overcame Real Betis Balompie 1-0 in a game where both sides were reduced to 10 men.
Ferencvaros beat Braga 2-0 in Budapest.
In the third-tier Conference League, Crystal Palace were held 0-0 in London by AEK Larnaca, while AFC Fiorentina needed a stoppage-time penalty to beat Polish club Rakow Czestochowa 2-1.
In the other games, AEK Athens scored a 4-0 win against Celje and RC Strasbourg Alsace, who finished top in the league phase, maintained their unbeaten record in Europe this season with a 2-1 win away to Croatian side Rijeka.
AZ won 2-1 over Sparta Prague, Spain’s Rayo Vallecano won 3-1 away to Turkish team Samsunspor, Shakhtar Donetsk won 3-1 against Lech Poznan and Bundesliga club FSV Mainz 05 drew 0-0 against Czech side Signa Olomouc.
Additional reporting by AFP
