Nottingham Forest seized the advantage in their Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa as Chris Wood's penalty sealed a 1-0 win in the first leg on Thursday.

Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, two clubs rich in European history, are one step from a first continental final in decades as they meet in the last four of the Europa League.

Aston Villa demolished Bologna and Nottingham Forest beat Porto in the Europa League on Thursday to set up an all-English showdown in the semi-finals.

Vincent Kompany's perennial German champions will face South Korean team Jeju SK on August 4 and then fly to Hong Kong to meet Premier League Villa three days later.

La Liga sides Real Betis and Celta Vigo also advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Manchester United bolstered their bid to qualify for the Champions League with a vital 3-1 win against top-four rivals Aston Villa on Sunday.

UEFA Europa League Round of 16: Nottingham Forest and Real Betis suffered defeat to Midtjylland and Panathinaikos respectively.

Unai Emery's Villa, who finished second in the league phase of this season's competition, behind another French side in Lyon, will go to northern France for the first leg on March 12 before the return in Birmingham on March 19.

Nico O'Reilly scored both goals for Pep Guardiola's team and extended Manchester City's unbeaten run in the league to five.

Aston Villa's Premier League title challenge was hit after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to relegation-fighting Leeds on Saturday.

Liverpool advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup by defeating Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 at Anfield.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery blasted a VAR intervention to rule out a goal for his side as Sunday's 1-0 home defeat to 10-man Brentford dented their dreams of winning the Premier League title.

Benjamin Sesko rode to Manchester United's rescue in another thrilling 3-2 win for Michael Carrick's men over Fulham on Sunday, as Aston Villa's Premier League title challenge faltered in defeat to 10-man Brentford.

Emery has won the Europa League a record four times as a manager and Rogers believes that is a considerable advantage for Villa.

Aston Villa closed to within four points of the Premier League summit with an impressive 2-0 win at Newcastle.

Aston Villa secured their place in the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday with a 1-0 win at Fenerbahce, while Nottingham Forest slid to a costly defeat away to Braga.

Aston Villa's Premier League title challenge suffered a huge blow in a 1-0 defeat against Everton, while Newcastle's push towards the top four was derailed by a 0-0 draw at Wolves on Sunday.

Manchester City and Aston Villa missed the chance to make significant inroads into Arsenal's Premier League lead on Wednesday as managerless Manchester United were held at lowly Burnley.