Forest, Celtic into Europa League play-offs as Villa fight back

PARIS: Nottingham Forest will go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros on Thursday, while Celtic secured their place in the knockout phase with victory over Utrecht.
Aston Villa finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured.
Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches but needed to beat Robbie Keane's Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way.
Sean Dyche's side did their bit as Igor Jesus struck twice for Forest after Ferencvaros defender Bence Otvos scored an own goal. James McAtee tucked away a late penalty, but the win was only enough for the Premier League club to finish 13th overall.
'It has not been easy through various games, the schedule, planning, travelling and all that sort of stuff. To come out of a disappointing one in Braga (1-0 loss last week) and then to deliver that I am very pleased,' Dyche told TNT Sports.
Twice former European champions Forest will learn their play-off fate on Friday. They will face Fenerbahce or Panathinaikos over two legs next month, while Stuttgart or Ferencvaros await Celtic, who overcame lowly Utrecht 4-2 after scoring three times in the first 19 minutes in Glasgow.
Benjamin Nygren put Celtic ahead before an own goal from Utrecht captain Nick Viergever. Arne Engels converted a penalty with Celtic cruising, but Utrecht pulled it back to within one until Auston Trusty's header gave the hosts some more breathing space.
TEEN WINS IT FOR VILLA
Villa looked to be sliding to just a second defeat in Europe this campaign when Salzburg surged 2-0 ahead in Birmingham through goals from Karim Konate and Moussa Yeo.
Morgan Rogers reduced the deficit and Tyrone Mings headed Villa level, with 19-year-old Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba netting his first senior goal to complete the turnaround for Unai Emery's men.

'It's a proud moment for me on my European debut,' Jimoh-Aloba told TNT Sports. 'It's just really nice to make my family proud and stuff because of all the hard work. I've had a lot of lows this season and a lot of highs, but this is top.'
Villa, who sit third in the Premier League, will get a welcome break before the last 16 — where they could meet Lille, PAOK, Red Star Belgrade or Celta Vigo.
Emery has won the Europa League a record four times as a manager and Rogers believes that is a considerable advantage for Villa.
'He knows how to get his way through a competition, especially this one. To have him in our corner guiding us through it is going to be massive,' said Rogers.
Lyon topped the table with seven wins from eight after completing the league phase with a 4-2 victory over PAOK. A minute's silence was observed before kick-off in memory of the seven Greek fans killed in a minibus accident in Romania on Tuesday.
Midtjylland, Real Betis, Porto, Braga, Freiburg and Roma all finished in the top eight to ensure direct qualification for the last 16.
Rangers concluded a miserable European campaign with a 3-1 loss at Porto, their sixth defeat in eight games in the competition. 
Uefa Europa League results on Thursday:
Porto (POR) 3 (Mora 27, Moura 36, Fernandez 41-og) Rangers (SCO) 1 (Gassama 6)
Lille (FRA) 1 (Giroud 90+2-pen) Freiburg (GER) 0
Real Betis (ESP) 2 (Antony 17, Ezzalzouli 32) Feyenoord (NED) 1 (Tengstedt 77)
Aston Villa (ENG) 3 (Rogers 64, Mings 76, Jimoh-Aloba 87) Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) 2 (Konate 33, Yeo 49)
Red Star Belgrade (SRB) 1 (Duarte 89) Celta Vigo (ESP) 1 (Lopez 87)
Lyon (FRA) 4 (Himbert 33, Merah 55, Karabec 88, Rodriguez 90+3) PAOK (GRE) 2 (Giakoumakis 20, Meite 66)
Celtic (SCO) 4 (Nygren 6, Viergever 10-og, Engels 19-pen, Trusty 66) Utrecht (NED) 2 (De Wit 44, Blake 62)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) 0 Bologna (ITA) 3 (Rowe 35, Orsolini 47, Pobega 90+4)
Basel (SUI) 0 Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 1 (Panos 39)
Midtjylland (DEN) 2 (Simsir 49, Jensen 74) Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 0
Ludogorets (BUL) 1 (Stanic 42) Nice (FRA) 0
Nottingham Forest (ENG) 4 (Otvos 17-og, Jesus 21, 55, McAtee 90-pen) Ferencvaros (HUN) 0
Sturm Graz (AUT) 1 (Kiteishvili 85) Brann (NOR) 0
FCSB (ROM) 1 (Cisotti 71) Fenerbahce (TUR) 1 (Yuksek 19)
Stuttgart (GER) 3 (Undav 6, Demirovic 7, Andres 90) Young Boys (SUI) 2 (Gigovic 42, Lauper 57)
Panathinaikos (GRE) 1 (Taborda 58) Roma (ITA) 1 (Ziolkowski 80)
Go Ahead Eagles (NED) 0 Braga (POR) 0
Genk (BEL) 2 (Heymans 45-pen, Karetsas 82) Malmo (SWE) 1 (Ali 4)