Aston Villa beats Fenerbahçe 1-0 in Istanbul

Aston Villa, Olympique Lyon, and Freiburg have secured direct qualification for the Europa League Round of 16.

The English team defeated Fenerbahçe 1-0 in Istanbul in the penultimate week of the competition, reaching 18 points with this victory. The match was decided in the first half, with Jadon Sancho scoring the only goal for Aston Villa in the 25th minute, giving Unai Emery’s side the win, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

Lyon also won away, narrowly beating Swiss side Young Boys 1-0. The French team, like Aston Villa, now has 18 points but leads the group due to goal difference. Maitland-Niles scored in stoppage time of the first half, sealing the victory for Lyon and securing their place among the top 16 teams in the Europa League.

German club Freiburg also qualified directly for the Round of 16, thanks to a 1-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, with Matanović scoring the decisive goal.

Other match results were:

Bologna 2-2 Celtic

PAOK 2-0 Betis

Feyenoord 3-0 Sturm

Malmö 0-1 Crvena Zvezda

Freiburg 1-0 Maccabi

Brann 3-3 Midtjylland

Viktoria Plzen 1-1 Porto