London, 23 January 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Aston Villa guaranteed themselves a top-eight finish in the Europa League after Jadon Sancho’s first-half header secured a 1-0 victory over Fenerbahce in Turkey.

Villa’s impressive European record went to new heights under Unai Emery as they earned a sixth win from their seven matches this season and brought Fenerbahce’s unbeaten record at home to an end thanks to Sancho’s first goal for the club.

Emery was without a number of injured players, including goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, but Marco Bizot stepped up with eight saves to send Villa through to the last 16 with a game to spare.

Leaders Lyon are also through and remained above Villa on goal difference after Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ first-half effort earned them a 1-0 win away to Young Boys.

Midtjylland would have joined the pair in clinching a last-16 berth had they not conceded in the 10th minute of stoppage-time to share the spoils in a 3-3 draw with Brann.

Freiburg moved above the Danes into third with a 1-0 victory over winless Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The pressure on Sean Dyche increased after 16th-placed Nottingham Forest suffered a 1-0 loss at Braga to essentially end their hopes of a top-eight finish.

An own-goal by captain Ryan Yates consigned Forest to a defeat and occurred a minute after Morgan Gibbs-White failed to convert a spot-kick.

To compound matters, England international Elliot Anderson was shown a red card late on for dissent as the frustration of Forest supporters in Portugal boiled over.

Ten-man Celtic lost a two-goal half-time lead at Bologna, but held on for what could be a precious point in Italy.

Reo Hatate opened the scoring early on before collecting two yellow cards in three minutes and while Auston Trusty doubled Celtic’s lead, Martin O’Neill’s side came under sustained pressure before Thijs Dallinga and Jonathan Rowe levelled for the hosts.

Celtic supporters celebrated the 2-2 draw wildly at full-time, with a victory next week at home to Utrecht likely to be enough to secure qualification to the play-off round.

Mohamed Diomande’s first-half strike earned Rangers a 1-0 win against Ludogorets at Ibrox, ending their winless run in the competition.

Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros were pegged back late on by Panathinaikos in a 1-1 draw, but the Hungarian champions remain in pole position for a top-eight finish.

Roma went sixth by claiming a 2-0 win over Stuttgart but Real Betis are now only in the top eight on goal difference after losing by the same scoreline at 12th-placed PAOK.

Porto, who drew 1-1 with Viktoria Plzen, are just one goal behind Betis in ninth.

Celta Vigo played 71 minutes with 10-men but edged out Lille 2-1 to stay alive in the top-eight battle, while Feyenoord retained hope of staying in the competition altogether with a 3-0 victory over Sturm Graz.

Malmo remain on one point after losing 1-0 to Crvena Zvezda but Nice opened their account in Europe with a 3-1 triumph over Go Ahead Eagles, while Dinamo Zagreb and Red Bull Salzburg also won on Thursday.

Photo: EPA