Europa League and Conference League: Stuttgart and Nottingham Forest Advance to Round of 16 Despite Losses

Thursday's second-leg matches in the European cup play-offs provided fans with immense excitement, although the favorites had to worry about the final result until the last minutes. VfB Stuttgart, after an extremely convincing 4-1 victory in Glasgow, approached the return leg against Celtic as a clear favorite. Meanwhile, the Glasgow team needed just 30 seconds to take the lead with a shot from Luke McCowan. Although the Germans took control of the match, their inefficiency and VAR interventions led to frustration among the hosts. The referees disallowed two goals for Stuttgart due to minimal offside positions, prompting striker Ermedin Demirovic to publicly call for the introduction of a "margin of error" for millimeter offside decisions. Ultimately, the 0-1 defeat did not cost Stuttgart their advancement, and the team will face one of the Portuguese clubs in the next round. In Nottingham, fans experienced a real thriller. Nottingham Forest, holding a 3-0 lead from the match in Istanbul, hosted Fenerbahce. Coach Vitor Pereira took a significant risk by fielding as many as six reserve players, which almost ended in disaster. Kerem Akturkoglu scored two goals for the visitors, making the specter of a historic comeback by the Turks a real possibility. The situation was only calmed by Callum Hudson-Odoi's goal in the 67th minute, which set the match result at 1-2 and the aggregate score at 4-2 for the English side. Pereira admitted after the match that squad rotation was necessary due to a tight Premier League schedule, but conceded that the team looks much weaker without key players. The UEFA Cup, renamed the Europa League in 2009, has for years been an arena for clubs aspiring to join the European elite, offering the winner direct entry to the Champions League. Since the 2021/2022 season, the format has been expanded with the Conference League, increasing the number of match dates and forcing clubs to rotate their squads more broadly. Simultaneously in the Conference League, Crystal Palace broke a difficult streak by defeating Bosnian side Zrinjski Mostar 2-0. Goals from Maxence Lacroix and Evan Guessand in added time allowed the Londoners to advance with a 3-1 aggregate score. This victory is crucial for coach Oliver Glasner, who was under strong pressure after a series of weaker results in the league. It's also worth noting the dramatic match in Florence, where Fiorentina, despite losing 2-4 to Jagiellonia Bialystok in regular time, managed to secure advancement only after extra time, thus avoiding one of the biggest embarrassments in their history in these competitions. „Ich finde es unfassbar, dass man das als Abseits wertet. Mir kann keiner sagen, dass die Linie so perfekt gezogen ist, dass die Schulter einen Millimeter abseits ist” (I find it unbelievable that this is considered offside. No one can tell me that the line is drawn so perfectly that the shoulder is a millimeter offside.) — Striker Ermedin Demirovic