After a remarkable night of drama in the Champions League on Wednesday, it’s fair to say Thursday night was a more low-key affair in the Europa League as far as qualification for the play-off round was concerned.
Of the 16 teams that occupied positions nine to 24 before a ball was kicked, 14 of them sealed a place in the play-offs when the full-time whistles sounded out across the continent.
The two exceptions to that trend were Porto and Young Boys.
In the case of the Portuguese giants, it was in joyful circumstances as a 3-1 home win against Rangers was enough to fire them up to fifth and secure direct qualification to the last-16 stage.
But it was contrasting emotions for Young Boys
The Swiss side started the night in 23rd place and appeared on course for a place in the play-offs until they suffered a cruel 3-2 defeat in the last minute against Stuttgart.
The loss – which came after Gerardo Seoane’s side fought from 2-0 down – saw them finish the eight-game league phase in 25th place.
Elsewhere, Celtic ensured they would be one of the 16 clubs in the hat for Friday’s draw as they held off a second-half fightback from Utrecht to claim a 4-2 win at Parkhead.
The win moved Celtic up three positions to 21st – and sees them join fellow British side Nottingham Forest in the play-off round.
Two-time European champions Forest recorded an emphatic 4-0 win over Ferencvaros to climb to 13th in the table.
Despite the win, not enough results went in their favour for them to be able to sneak automatic qualification to the knockout round.
The two British clubs will be joined by Genk, Bologna, Stuttgart, Ferencvaros, Viktoria Plzen, FK Crvena Zvezda, Celta Vigo, PAOK, Lille, Fenerbahce, Panathinaikos, Ludogorets, Dinamo Zagreb and Brann.
The draw for the Europa League play-off round takes place in Switzerland on Friday.
