Forest face Fenerbahçe, Celtic take on Stuttgart in Europa League play-offs | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest will have a challenging trip to Istanbul after the draw held this Friday determined Fenerbahçe as their opponent in the play-offs of the Europa League knockout stage. Meanwhile, Celtic will have to face the German giants VfB Stuttgart.

Forest, who are just above the relegation zone in the English Championship, finished in 13th place among the 36 teams in the Europa League and, therefore, were seeded in the draw.

However, Fenerbahçe promises to be a tough test, as they are unbeaten in the Turkish Super Lig this season, although they are three points behind leaders Galatasaray in the table. The Turkish squad includes former Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson, Spanish star Marco Asensio, and French midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.

Forest, hoping to return to the Turkish city for the final in May, can take encouragement from the fact that Aston Villa beat Fenerbahçe 1-0 at the Sukru Saracoglu stadium last week.

The winner of this tie will face Real Betis or Midtjylland in the round of 16 — Forest lost at home to the Danes in the league phase in October.

Other Matchups

Celtic secured qualification for the play-offs after beating Utrecht 4-2 on Thursday, finishing in 21st place. They will host Stuttgart, currently fifth in the German Championship, in the first leg on February 19, before the return leg in Germany on February 26. The winners will face Portuguese opponents in the round of 16: Porto or Braga.

Other play-off duels include Bologna (Italian Championship) against Brann Bergen (Norway) and Lille facing Red Star Belgrade.

Aston Villa is among the eight teams that advanced directly to the round of 16 and will face Lille, Red Star, PAOK or Celta de Vigo in that stage.

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Match Schedule: Europa League Play-offs

* With content from AFP.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.