Europa League: Roma close in on Round of 16, Lille, Betis, and Nottingham stumble
AS Roma moved closer to direct qualification for the Europa League Round of 16 on Thursday with a 2-0 victory over VfB Stuttgart in the penultimate round of Group B matches, which conclude next week.
The Italian capital club owes its victory to a brace from Nicolo Pezzelli in the 40th and 93rd minutes, bringing their total to 15 points and placing them sixth in the group, one point behind fifth-placed Braga, who continued their impressive run with a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, who remain on 11 points in 15th place. Meanwhile, Celtic drew 2-2 with Bologna despite taking an early lead and receiving a red card. Celtic started strongly, scoring twice in the first half. Rio Hatate opened the scoring early, and Austin Trustey doubled the lead before halftime. However, Hatate was sent off after receiving two yellow cards. Bologna responded with a goal from Tess Dalinga before Jonathan Rowe equalized in the 72nd minute. Real Betis suffered a heavy blow, losing 2-0 to PAOK. Andrija Zivkovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis (from the penalty spot) scored for the Greek side.
In other matches, Ferencváros drew 1-1 with Panathinaikos. Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia defeated Steaua Bucharest of Romania 4-1, Nice of France beat Go Ahead Eagles of the Netherlands 3-1, Rangers of Scotland edged Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria 1-0, and Salzburg of Austria triumphed over Basel of Switzerland 3-1.
Celta Vigo of Spain also secured a victory, defeating Lille of France 2-1, while Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic and Porto of Portugal played to a 1-1 draw.
Lyon of France leads the group with 18 points, followed by Aston Villa of England (18), Freiburg of Germany (17), Midtjylland of Denmark (16), Braga of Portugal (16), Roma of Italy (15), Ferencváros of Hungary (15), and Real Betis of Spain (14).
The top eight teams will qualify directly for the Round of 16, while those finishing from ninth to twentieth will compete in the play-offs for a place in the knockout stage.