Nottingham Forest avoid scare to reach Europa League last 16; Crystal Palace beat Zrinjski | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest’s first leg victory against Fenerbahce was enough to get them over the line in their Europa League play-off after surviving a scare in Thursday’s second leg.

In Vitor Pereira’s first game in charge of Forest, the Premier League side ran riot in Istanbul, beating Turkish giants Fenerbahce 3-0.

That essentially put one Forest foot into the last 16 of the Europa League but they experienced quite the scare in Thursday night’s second leg at the City Ground.

Kerem Akturkoglu opened the scoring on the night after 22 minutes and we entered ‘tie on’ territory three minutes into the second half when he scored his second.

The Fenerbahce forward made it 3-2 on aggregate from the penalty spot after being fouled in the box by Jair Cunha.

Callum Hudson-Odoi’s 68th-minute goal settled the home side’s nerves and put Forest two goals ahead on aggregate once again.

This was a very tough tie on paper, but it ended up being relatively convincing for Forest, much in thanks to their first-leg rout.

That said, they definitely experienced a scare in the second leg.

Progressing to the last 16 of the Europa League is a superb achievement for a team struggling down in 17th in the Premier League table.

They will either face Real Betis or Midtjylland, both of whom they played in the league phase.

They lost at home to the latter and earned a draw against Betis, both under Ange Postecoglou.

Crystal Palace also progressed through in Europe on Thursday.

Last week, supporters were calling for Oliver Glasner’s head after a 1-1 Europa Conference League play-off draw against Bosnian minnows Zrinjski Mostar.

This week, supporters were left underwhelmed by their performance in the second leg, but they got over the line courtesy of a 2-0 victory.

Maxence Lacroix opened the scoring at Selhurst Park to put Palace 2-1 up on aggregate and towards the end of a poor showing, January signing Evann Guessand sealed a 3-1 aggregate win.

Palace are one of the favourites to win this season’s Conference League, boosted by Glasner’s experience winning the Europa League with Frankfurt, but they have struggled in Europe this campaign, underlined by their participation in the play-offs.

It will be Mainz or AEK Larnaca for the Eagles in the next round.

Elsewhere in Europe on Thursday, Scottish champions Celtic won 1-0 in Stuttgart but fell out of the Europa League after losing 4-1 at home last week.