Roundup of the Round of 16 action in 2025-26 UEFA Europa League.
Aston Villa rejoined the competition at this stage after they had bypassed the Knockout Play-Offs, of which Nottingham Forest prevailed in to secure their spot in this stage as both English clubs now chased a Quarter-Final spot.
This round though saw plenty of comebacks and drama as the top seeds suffered a surprise exit.
Ferencvaros 2-4 Braga
Goals from Gabi Kanichowsky and Lenny Joseph saw Ferencvaros claim a 2-0 aggregate lead with their first-leg victory at home.
Ricardo Horta’s brace plus goals from Florian Grillitsch and Gabriel Martinez saw Braga complete a second-leg comeback to win 4-0 at home to prevail on aggregate.
Panathinaikos 1-4 Real Betis
Vicente Taborda’s 88th-minute penalty saw Panathinaikos clinch a surprise first-leg victory at home against the fourth seed.
Real Betis however avoided a shock exit with a 4-0 second-leg comeback at home, as Aitor Rubial equalised the aggregate scoring before Sofyan Amrabat, Cucho Hernandez and Antony sealed the result.
Genk 2-5 Freiburg
Zakaria El Ouahdi netted a 24th-minute first-leg winner to put Genk ahead on aggregate at home.
Matthias Ginter, Igor Matanovic, Vincenzo Grifo, Yuito Suzuki and Maximilian Eggestein however found the net as Freiburg roared back to win 5-1 at home in the second leg, despite Matte Smets’ 29th-minute consolatory effort for the Belgian visitors.
Celta Vigo 3-1 Lyon
Javier Rueda’s first-leg opener for Celta Vigo was cancelled out by Endrick’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Lyon.
Rueda and Ferran Jutgla eventually sealed Celta Vigo’s progress to the Quarter-Final win a 2-0 second leg win away, amidst red cards for Lyon’s Moussa Niakhate and Nicolas Tagliafico.
VfB Stuttgart 1-4 Porto
Terem Moffi and Rodrigo Mora fired Porto to a 2-1 first-leg away win at Stuttgart, despite Deniz Undav’s 40th-minute consolatory goal for the German hosts.
William Gomes and Victor Froholdt eventually secured Porto’s passage with a 2-0 second-leg victory at home, amidst a red card for Stuttgart’s Nikolas Nartey.
Nottingham Forest 2-2 Midtjylland (Forest win 3-0 on penalties)
Cho Gue-sung’s 80th-minute header saw Midtjylland snatch a first-leg victory at Forest’s City Ground.
Nicolas Dominguez and Ryan Yates however secured a 2-1 win for Forest in the second leg, despite Martin Erlic’s equaliser for Midtjylland which levelled the tie on aggregate before the visitors prevailed 3-0 on penalties.
Bologna 5-4 Roma
Lorenzo Pellegrini rescued Roma a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Bologna after Federico Bernardeschi put the hosts in front in the all-Italian tie.
First-half goals from Jonathan Rowe and Bernardeschi either side of Evan Ndicka’s equaliser put Bologna in control at half-time in the second leg, before Donyell Malen’s penalty and Pellegrini’s finish saw Roma force a 3-3 draw after Santiago Castro extended Bologna’s lead as the tie went to extra time.
Bologna eventually prevailed 4-3 in the second leg following Nicolo Cambiaghi’s 111th-minute extra-time winner, which secured a memorable aggregate win to secure their first Quarter-Final appearance in this competition since 1998-99 season when they reached the semi-finals on that occasion.
Aston Villa 3-0 Lille
Ollie Watkins’ 61st-minute header saw Villa snatch a 1-0 first-leg victory away to Lille, before second-half goals from John McGinn and Leon Bailey saw the Villains win the second leg 2-0 at home to secure their passage to the Quarter-Finals.
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