From Glasgow to the… “16” goes Stuttgart! The Germans outplayed Celtic in Scotland with an emphatic 4-1 win and are on course to qualify for the next round of the Europa League.
The first part had a very high tempo, with El Kanous in the 15th minute giving the visitors the lead. The home side’s reply came six minutes later through Nygren, but El Kanous struck again in the 28th minute to put Stuttgart back in front.
Stuttgart entered the second half with the same intensity, finding a third goal with Lewelling in the 57th minute. Shortly afterwards Demirovic scored for the fourth time, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Nevertheless, the crowd at Celtic Park began to leave disappointed, with Thomas late on making it 4-1.
Big win for Red Star in France with 1-0 against Lille. The only goal came at the end of the first half, when after a corner kick and a lot of defensive inactivity, Utsena pushed the ball into the net from the small area.
The only home team that celebrated was Ludogorets, which beat Ferencvaros 2-1. Dua opened the scoring for the Bulgarians in the 24th minute, but the visitors equalized through Dele three minutes later. Despite their superiority, the Hungarians lacked substance and finally saw Son with an impressive shot in the 67th minute to give the home team victory and the lead for qualification.
The program in detail:
Bran-Bologna 0-1
Dinamo Zagreb-Genk 1-3
PAOK-Thelta 1-2
Fenerbahce-Nottingham Forest 0-3
Lille-Red Star 0-1
Ludogorets-Ferencvaros 2-1
Panathinaikos-Victoria Plzen 2-2
Celtic-Stuttgart 1-4