Europa League: Villa secure last 16 place with Fenerbahce win as Celtic held to stalemate in Bologna

Jadon Sancho scored the winner on the night, his first for the club. Pic: Francisco Seco/AP

Aston Villa guaranteed themselves a top-eight finish in the Europa League after Jadon Sancho's first-half header secured a 1-0 victory over Fenerbahce in Turkey.

Villa's impressive European record went to new heights as they earned a sixth win from their seven matches this season and brought Fenerbahce's unbeaten record at home to an end in the process.

Sancho opened his account in Villa colours to put the visitors in the driving seat in front of a loud Sukru Saracoglu atmosphere.

Morgan Rogers saw his goal scrubbed out for offside but they had a reprieve themselves when Kemer Akturkoglu thought he equalised, only for VAR to intervene for a second time.

Villa's home match with RB Salzburg next week will be nothing more than a formality, knowing their place inside the round of 16 is safe.

The noise inside the stadium fell silent as the away side hit the front in the 25th minute.

Some neat play ended at the feet of Matty Cash, who saw his cross flick off the head of Ismail Yuksek and nicely onto the head of Sancho, who nodded the ball beyond Ederson.

Villa thought they got their second when Rogers bundled one over the line but Sancho fractionally mistimed his run before squaring it to his team-mate.

Meanwhile, Ten-man Celtic lost a two-goal half-time lead but held on for what could be a precious Europa League point in Bologna.

Celtic's Reo Hatate, center, celebrates scoring. Pic: Massimo Paolone/AP

Reo Hatate opened the scoring early on before collecting two yellow cards in three minutes.

Auston Trusty doubled Celtic's lead but Martin O'Neill's side came under sustained pressure after the interval and goals from Thijs Dallinga and Jonathan Rowe brought Bologna level.

Although the Italian side managed 37 attempts at goal in total, both teams had chances to win it before the game finished 2-2.

The Celtic fans celebrated the result, which puts their team on eight points ahead of their final game against the already eliminated Utrecht at Parkhead next week. A win should see Celtic qualify for the playoff round.

Elsewhere, in Rome a Niccolo Pisilli brace helped AS Roma to a 2-0 victory over Stuttgart. The win sees Gian Piero Gasperini's side into the play off places, currently sitting in 6th in the table.

Roma took the lead just before the break when Pisilli ran onto a through ball from Matias Soulé and, instead of rolling the ball across the area, decided to let rip, surprising keeper Alexander Nubel in the process and hitting the net from a tight angle.

Roma keeper Svilar made an excellent save one-on-one with Deniz Undav. Undav missed another glaring opportunity following a lucky ricochet from a Chris Fuhrich free kick, firing the ball over the bar from close.

Svilar was on his toes once more to deny Ermedin Demirovic from close range with Evan Ndicka doing what he needed to do with a clearance on the rebound.

Then with seconds remaining Pisilli doubled his tally for the night, thanks to a smart disguised pass from Paulo Dybala setting up the midfielder to smash home from 10 yards.