Football writer Dan Edwards reports on how Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace fared in their respective matches in the UEFA Europa League and Conference League on Thursday night.
Feyenoord 0-2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa withstood great pressure from Eredivisie leaders Feyenoord before second-half goals from Emiliano Buendia and John McGinn made it three consecutive wins in all competitions.
Feyenoord are coached by ex-Arsenal and Manchester United forward Robin van Persie, who has them top of the Eredivisie with six wins from seven games, and the table toppers made Villa work hard for their victory.
However, the home side were lucky not to be a man down after 16 minutes, with former Sheffield United centre-back Anel Ahmedhodzic bringing down Ollie Watkins when the striker appeared to be clean through on goal.
After a long check, referee Rade Obrenovic stuck with his decision to award a yellow card despite Villa’s claims that Watkins had been denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Obrenovic was under the spotlight again 15 minutes later when ruling out a Feyenoord goal for what appeared to be a fairly innocuous foul on Matty Cash following a corner.
Marco Bizot, in his native homeland, was starting in goal for Villa, with Emiliano Martinez withdrawn not long before kick-off after picking up a knock in the warm-up, and it felt as though Van Persie had told his players to test Bizot whenever possible.
The goalkeeper was forced into five saves in the first half alone, while facing 16 crosses.
While Villa had appeared overawed by the deafening atmosphere at De Kuip at times during the first half, they were a much more lucid outfit after half-time.
Not long after Evan Guessand had hit a post from close range, Buendia gave Villa the lead with a well-taken shot from the edge of the box with an hour on the clock.
Boubacar Kamara had done incredibly well to retain possession after a slightly loose pass from Morgan Rogers, and the Frenchman laid the ball off for Buendia.
The Argentinian rolled the ball forwards with his first touch and nestled it into the bottom-right corner with his second.
"He [Buendia] knows how we are building the team and how we are building tactically. His position is clear. He has capacity to assist and score goals," Unai Emery said on TNT Sports after the match.
With 10 minutes remaining, captain John McGinn scored for the third consecutive game to seal Villa's win.
After a powerful run from the halfway line from Donyell Malen saw the Dutchman dispossessed in the penalty area, the ball landed perfectly at McGinn’s feet, the Scot tucking the ball away confidently.
Having struggled earlier in the campaign and failing to win their first six games in all competitions, Villa have a good opportunity to make it four victories in a row on Sunday when they host Burnley at Villa Park.
See: Aston Villa's line-up and report
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Midtjylland
Nottingham Forest’s European homecoming was spoiled by Midtjylland’s set-piece mastery as Ange Postecoglou stretched his winless start to six matches.
Midtjylland are known as set-piece specialists in Denmark, scoring a league-high eight goals from such situations after only 10 games in this season’s Danish Superliga.
This was no doubt the reason Postecoglou elected to name three central defenders in his starting XI, with Morato sitting between Nikola Milenkovic and the returning Murillo.
But having an extra centre-back on the pitch didn’t stop Forest from conceding at set-pieces, and they did so twice during a frenetic six-minute period in which they went behind, equalised, and then went behind again.
Ousmane Diao opened the scoring for Midtjylland, tapping in at the back post after Mads Bech had flicked the ball on from a right-sided free-kick.
Forest equalised four minutes later when Dan Ndoye converted a fantastic cross from Morgan Gibbs-White, becoming the first Forest player to score at home in Europe since Steve Stone did so against Bayern Munich in March 1996.
But just as the home crowd were finding full voice, Midtjylland went back ahead, this time from a corner. Bech, formerly of Brentford and captain on the night, got the ball over the line after a goalmouth scramble.
"Really disappointing. Just really, really poor goals we conceded in the first half," Postecoglou told TNT Sports after the match.
"We just let ourselves down in key moments of the game. Nothing organisational just in those moments we have not shown the same desire and determination to the opposition."
To add Forest’s woes, Murillo was forced off after seemingly injuring his back in an earlier challenge.
Midtjylland were happy to defend their lead in the second half, and the Danes added a third against the run of play in the 88th minute, with Valdemar Byskov scoring a breakaway goal.
It was their first shot since the 32nd minute, and their first from open play in the entire game.
Forest were given a lifeline in stoppage time when Chris Wood converted a penalty – the Kiwi already had two goals ruled out for offside after replacing Igor Jesus with 15 minutes remaining.
Alas, it was too little too late, and Postecoglou has become the first permanent Forest manager for 100 years to fail to win any of his first six games in charge of the club, having drawn two and lost four, since John Baynes failed to win any of his first seven games in August/September 1925.
The 13 goals conceded under Postecoglou are also the most of any Premier League side in all competitions since he first took charge.
It doesn’t get any easier for Forest, who sit just a point above the relegation zone in the Premier League – they travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United on Sunday.
See: Forest's line-up and report
Dynamo Kyiv 0-2 Crystal Palace
Yeremy Pino starred as Crystal Palace made it a club-record 19 games unbeaten in all competitions, defeating Dynamo Kyiv in the Eagles’ first match in European competition proper in Lublin, Poland.
Head coach Oliver Glasner made two changes to the side who stunned Premier League leaders Liverpool at the weekend, resting Ismaila Sarr and Tyrick Mitchell, with Will Hughes and Borna Sosa coming in.
Having successfully navigated their playoff tie against Fredrikstad, this was Palace’s first game in the main stages of a European competition, and they understandably took some time to grow into the match.
Palace have an average possession figure of 39.9 per cent in the Premier League this season, the second-lowest in the division, and have found great success under Glasner from staying compact while attacking the space afforded to a side that prefer to soak up pressure.
Here, though, on the European stage it was Dynamo who sat deeper early on, and Palace were forced to prove they can break teams down themselves.
"It looks like teams [in Europe] react more to the way we are playing, so in the Premier League every team plays its style, their system, once or twice it happens that the opposition changes their system, and now we’ve two opponents with Fredrikstad and Kyiv, and both teams started in a different system than we expected," Glasner told Palace's website after the match.
"Maybe this is a little bit different, and we will see if this continues, but it is not difficult to prepare the team, because they are so hungry to succeed, and so ambitious, and of course we want to keep them pushing, and it is really easy to keep the focus high."
The breakthrough came just after the half-hour mark, taking advantage of Daniel Munoz’s qualities in bursting late into the box from his position at right wing-back.
With Palace camped in the Dynamo half, Pino received the ball out to the left. Upon realising he wasn’t going to be pressed, the summer signing from Villarreal took the time to bring the ball infield a touch before fizzing a searching cross to the far post.
Munoz attacked the space and leapt high, sending a looped header back over Dynamo goalkeeper Ruslan Neshcheret, who would have struggled to have saved it if he were twice as tall.
It was Munoz’s fifth goal in all competitions in 2025, which in addition to his six assists makes him the Premier League defender with the most goal involvements this calendar year.
Eddie Nketiah, a planned half-time replacement for Jean-Philippe Mateta, scored as a substitute for the second successive game early in the second half to give Palace breathing room.
Pino was the creator again, bamboozling Dynamo’s Volodymyr Brazhko on the byline with some brilliant skill before using the outside of his foot to find Nketiah with a low-cross that the Englishman volleyed home first-time.
“He [Pino] was very good,” Glasner added. “He worked so hard. In the last games, he didn't get the reward, but he's such a great guy, he always keeps going and he gets more and more used to the way we are playing.
“The second assist was too quick for my eyes! I'm already an old guy, too far away, it was too quick, so I’ll have to look it back on TV! But it was a fantastic assist, and a very good performance.”
One blemish on the evening was the dismissal of Sosa for two bookings in the space of 120 seconds with 15 minutes remaining. But Palace saw out the remainder without trouble, and goalkeeper Dean Henderson was not forced into a save until the 89th minute.
Glasner added that Hughes suffered a dead leg but hopes he will be fit for Sunday's Premier League trip to Everton.
See: Palace's line-up and report