The seventh matchday of the Europa League league phase delivered a series of decisive results on Thursday, January 22, 2026, confirming several automatic qualifications for the Round of 16 while leaving others fighting for their continental survival. With the 36-team table nearing its final form, the evening was defined by late drama, clinical individual performances, and critical errors that reshaped the top eight aspirations for several major clubs.
Fenerbahçe 0–1 Aston Villa
Aston Villa officially secured their place in the Round of 16 with a hard-fought away victory in Istanbul. Jadon Sancho scored the decisive goal with a header midway through the first half, marking his first goal for the club and celebrating manager Unai Emery’s 100th game in the competition. Despite a late Fenerbahçe strike being ruled out by VAR for offside, Villa held firm thanks to several key saves from goalkeeper Marco Bizot.
Bologna 2–2 Celtic
Celtic’s hopes of automatic qualification suffered a major blow after they surrendered a two-goal lead in Italy. Reo Hatate opened the scoring early before being sent off for two yellow cards in quick succession, leaving the Scottish side with ten men for nearly an hour. Auston Trusty doubled the lead before half-time, but Thijs Dallinga and Jonathan Rowe struck back for Bologna in the second half to salvage a draw.
Young Boys 0–1 Lyon
Lyon joined Aston Villa in the Round of 16 by securing a narrow away win in Switzerland. The victory moved them level on points with Villa at the top of the standings, with eighteen points from seven matches. Lyon’s clinical defensive display ensured they would bypass the knockout play-off round regardless of their result on the final matchday.
Brann 3–3 Midtjylland
This Nordic clash provided the most goals of the early session, ending in a dramatic stalemate. Brann managed to salvage a point in the tenth minute of stoppage time when Joachim Soltvedt converted a penalty. The draw was a significant setback for Midtjylland, as they dropped to fourth place in the overall standings with sixteen points.
PAOK 2–0 Real Betis
PAOK produced a disciplined performance to defeat Real Betis and move into eleventh place in the league table. The result leaves Betis sitting in sixth place, still within the automatic qualification spots but under pressure from the chasing pack. PAOK’s tactical setup successfully neutralized the Spanish side’s creative threats throughout the evening.
Feyenoord 3–0 Sturm Graz
Feyenoord kept their slim hopes of advancing alive with a convincing victory in Rotterdam. Goals from Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Anis Hadj Moussa, and Goncalo Borges ended a poor run of form for the hosts. The win moves them to six points, meaning they still have a mathematical chance of reaching the play-off spots on the final day.
SC Freiburg 1–0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Freiburg maintained their push for a top-eight finish with a late victory at home. Igor Matanovic scored the only goal of the game in the final minutes to secure all three points. The Bundesliga side now sits in third place with seventeen points, just one point behind the joint leaders, Lyon and Aston Villa.
Viktoria Plzeň 1–1 Porto
A tense encounter in the Czech Republic ended with both sides sharing the points. The draw keeps Porto in seventh place with fourteen points, while Viktoria Plzeň sits in fifteenth. Both teams remain well-positioned for the play-off round, though Porto’s hopes of a direct Round of 16 spot now depend on results elsewhere on Matchday 8.
Malmö 0–1 Crvena Zvezda
Crvena Zvezda secured a vital away win to climb into ninth place, just one point away from the automatic qualification zone. For Malmö, the defeat leaves them at the bottom of the table with only one point from seven matches, officially ending their European campaign for the season.
AS Roma 2–0 VfB Stuttgart
Roma dented Stuttgart’s hopes of a top-eight finish with a professional display at the Stadio Olimpico. Niccolò Pisilli was the hero for the Italians, scoring at the end of both halves to secure the win. The result moved Roma up to twelfth place, while Stuttgart dropped to twelfth and now faces a difficult path to direct qualification.
SC Braga 1–0 Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest’s hopes of automatic qualification were all but extinguished following a night of frustration in Portugal. Morgan Gibbs-White missed an early second-half penalty just fifty-five seconds before Ryan Yates inadvertently scored an own goal. Forest’s misery was compounded by a late red card for Elliot Anderson, leaving them in fourteenth place.
Rangers 1–0 Ludogorets
Rangers finally secured their first victory of a challenging league-phase campaign. Mohamed Diomande scored the only goal of the match in the thirty-third minute to ignite the Ibrox crowd. While the result provides a morale boost, Rangers remain outside the qualification spots with only four points.
GNK Dinamo 4–1 FCSB
Dinamo Zagreb produced a dominant second-half performance to brush aside FCSB and keep their play-off aspirations alive. The three-goal margin of victory helped improve their goal difference, which could prove critical on the final matchday. FCSB currently sits in twenty-eighth place and will need a significant result next week to survive.
FC Salzburg 3–1 Basel
Salzburg earned a much-needed victory at home to move to three points, though they remain near the bottom of the standings. Basel’s defeat leaves them in twenty-sixth place, one point outside the play-off zone. The Swiss side will enter Matchday 8 in a desperate fight to avoid total elimination from Europe.
RC Celta Vigo 2–1 LOSC Lille
Celta Vigo secured a pivotal win that saw them leapfrog Lille in the standings. Both teams are now level on nine points, occupying nineteenth and twentieth place respectively. This result ensures that both sides will enter the final round of fixtures with their play-off destiny still in their own hands.
OGC Nice 3–1 Go Ahead Eagles
Nice secured their first points of the campaign in emphatic fashion, ending a six-match losing streak. Despite the win, they remain at the bottom of the table and have already been mathematically eliminated from progressing to the knockout rounds. For Go Ahead Eagles, the loss keeps them in twenty-ninth place with six points.
Ferencváros 1–1 Panathinaikos
This mid-table battle ended in a stalemate that favored the hosts. Ferencváros remains in fifth place with fourteen points, keeping them firmly in the hunt for an automatic Round of 16 spot. Panathinaikos occupies seventeenth place with ten points, practically securing their place in the play-off round.
FC Utrecht 0–2 Genk
Genk secured a professional away victory to solidify their standing in eighteenth place. The result moved the Belgian side to ten points, safely within the play-off bracket. Utrecht, however, remains second to last in the table with only one point, confirming their exit from the competition.
The conclusion of Matchday 7 has officially confirmed Lyon and Aston Villa as the first two teams to bypass the knockout play-offs and enter the Round of 16. At the bottom of the table, the elimination of sides like Malmö, Utrecht, and Nice has narrowed the field for the remaining play-off spots. Matchday 8 will now serve as a final sprint for the remaining six automatic qualification berths and the final entries into the top twenty-four.
