Nottingham Forest welcome Porto to the City Ground
Nottingham Forest will welcome Porto to the City Ground on Thursday for the second leg of their quarter-final clash in the Europa League.
The two teams are locked level at 1-1 after the first-leg meeting in Portugal, leaving a place in the semi-finals hanging in the balance.
Nottingham Forest have had a challenging campaign as a whole, with the Tricky Trees still battling for their Premier League survival, but they have found joy in the Europa League.
Forest actually faced a difficult start in the league phase, recording two draws, one defeat and just one win – a 2-0 triumph over Porto – in their opening four fixtures.
While the Tricky Trees will take confidence from their 2-0 victory against Porto at the City Ground during the league phase, Forest have lost both of their home fixtures in the knockout rounds so far.
Porto, meanwhile, are without defeat in their last eight games across all competitions, and they have lost just once in the Europa League this campaign.
Porto may have enjoyed a stronger season as a whole, but Nottingham Forest have had the better of this meeting this term and boast the home advantage, leading us to expect a victory for the Tricky Trees.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Freiburg travel away to face Celta Vigo
Freiburg will travel to Spain for Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Celta Vigo at Balaidos.
The Bundesliga outfit have one foot in the semi-finals after storming to a 3-0 victory in last week’s first leg in Germany.
Celta Vigo took the tricky route to the Europa League quarter-finals after having to go through knockout round ties following their 16th-place finish in the league phase.
The Galician outfit saw off PAOK in the knockout phase playoffs, before they knocked out league phase winners Lyon via a 3-1 aggregate scoreline to set up a quarter-final tie against Freiburg.
However, their hopes of replicating their 2016-17 run to the semi-finals are hanging by a thread after falling to a heavy 3-0 defeat in Freiburg last week.
Celta then suffered another 3-0 loss in Sunday’s LaLiga home clash against relegation-threatened Real Oviedo, leaving them in sixth place and two points adrift of Real Betis in fifth position.
They have now lost three of their last four competitive games, and after shipping 12 goals in that period, they will need to shore up their backline if they are to have any hopes of staging a dramatic comeback on Thursday.
While Celta have not been in the best of form of late, they have won four of their six European home games this term.
With that in mind, we think they will prevail on the night, but we believe they will ultimately fail in their bid to overturn the sizeable first-leg deficit.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Aston Villa take two-goal lead to Bologna
Within touching distance of the Europa League’s final four, Aston Villa will take a two-goal lead into Thursday’s second leg of their quarter-final against Bologna.
After winning 3-1 in Italy, the Birmingham club can book their semi-final place by finishing the job back at Villa Park.
Kicking off their third European quarter-final in as many seasons, Aston Villa started slowly in last week’s first leg, but they survived a few scares before building a significant advantage.
More than a fortnight since their last competitive fixture, Villa initially rode their luck at Stadio Dall’Ara – Bologna had a goal ruled out for offside and struck the bar – then took firm control of the tie.
Ezri Konsa put them ahead against the run of play, before Ollie Watkins bagged a brace either side of Jonathan Rowe’s well-taken reply for the Rossoblu.
Having restored their two-goal cushion with virtually the last kick, Unai Emery’s men are in a particularly strong position to progress.
Coached by four-time winner Emery – a proven expert at navigating the latter stages – Villa have now posted eight straight wins in UEFA’s second-tier tournament since slipping up in Deventer, where they suffered a shock loss to Go Ahead Eagles.
Although Aston Villa’s fine home record has been hit by a few recent setbacks, the hosts rarely lose a European game in B6.
Bologna have been much improved since a mid-season slump, but they remain vulnerable at the back and could be caught out more than once.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Crystal Palace head to Florence on a highflying note
A week on from a stunning 3-0 victory over Fiorentina in South London, Crystal Palace head to Florence to finish the job in their Conference League quarter-final second leg at Stadio Artemio Franchi.
The Italian side entered this tie having not lost a last-eight match in the competition in three appearances, but they need a roaring turnaround on home soil to avoid exiting at the earliest stage since the competition’s inception.
Fiorentina enter their quarter-final second leg in unfamiliar territory after last week’s events in south London, where Paolo Vanoli’s side suffered a 3-0 beatdown at Selhurst Park.
The Florence-based club face the challenge of overturning a European deficit this high for the first time, despite never having lost in the tournament’s last eight during their two-time Conference League finalist and three-time semi-finalist history.
The club from the Tuscany region have found themselves in this position on three occasions, and they have ended on the losing side every time, putting their near-perfect European quarter-final record under threat.
All good things come to an end, and Fiorentina’s streak of never losing in the Conference League quarter-final is likely to be snapped by Palace.
Although the Viola are favoured to win the match, they are unlikely to score enough goals to advance, allowing Palace to reach their first European semi-final.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Europa League Fixtures
Celta Vigo 17:45 Freiburg
Aston Villa 20:00 Bologna
Nottingham Forest 20:00 Porto
Real Betis 20:00 Sporting Braga
Conference League Fixtures
AZ 17:45 Shakhtar Donetsk
AEK Athens 20:00 Rayo Vallecano
Fiorentina 20:00 Crystal Palace
Strasbourg 20:00 Mainz 05
