Aston Villa edges Salzburg 3-2 after second-half comeback in Europa League

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This article was published 29/01/2026 (220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba’s first-ever goal for Aston Villa was an 87th-minute winner in a 3-2 comeback victory over Salzburg to conclude the opening phase of the Europa League on Thursday.

The 19-year-old Jimoh-Aloba’s strike followed Tyrone Mings’ equalizer at Villa Park. Morgan Rogers sparked the comeback in the 64th after the visitors built a 2-0 lead on own goal from Victor Lindelof and then Moussa Yeo’s goal.

Villa wasn’t able to overtake Lyon atop the 36-team standings, however, after the French team beat 10-man PAOK 4-2 to remain in front of Unai Emery’s team on goal difference. Both Lyon and Villa had already secured a spot in the round of 16.

Like in the Champions League, the top eight finishers advance automatically to the last 16. The teams placed from nine to 24 enter a two-leg playoff.

The rest of the top eight are: third-place Midtjylland, Real Betis, Porto, Braga, Freiburg, and Roma.

Midtjylland, a Danish club, beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 to move up to third, two points back of Lyon and Villa.

In Seville, former Manchester United winger Antony scored and set up Abde Ezzalzouli’s goal in Real Betis’ 2-1 win over Feyenoord.

Porto rallied from a goal down to beat Rangers 3-1 and jump from ninth to fifth, Braga advanced in the sixth spot after a 0-0 draw at Go Ahead Eagles, and 10-man Freiburg slipped to ninth with a 1-0 loss at Lille.

Jan Ziółkowski headed in an 80th-minute equalizer for Roma in a 1-1 draw with Panathinaikos.

Playoff spot for Celtic

Celtic claimed one of the five playoff spots that remained Thursday by beating Utrecht 4-2. The playoffs draw is Friday.

The Scottish giant led 3-0 within the opening 20 minutes at Celtic Park on Benjamin Nygren’s early goal, Nick Viergever’s own goal and Arne Engels’ penalty.

Igor Jesus scored twice for Nottingham Forest in a 4-0 win over Ferencváros.

PAOK fans honored

The seven PAOK fans who died in a minibus crash in Romania this week on their way to attend a game between Lyon and their club were honored at stadiums in France and Greece.

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Lyon expressed its “sincere condolences” to PAOK and supporters’ associations for rival Greek clubs Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, Aris, and others issued messages of unity and condolences.

A moment of silence was observed at Groupama Stadium in Lyon — and in Athens where Panathinaikos played Roma.

Also, players at the Lille game against Freiburg joined in a round of applause for the victims, UEFA said.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer