Europa League: Which clubs made it into the top eight and who were eliminated

After a great night of drama in the Champions League on Wednesday, it’s fair to say that Thursday night was less important in the Europa League in terms of qualifying for the play-off round.

Of the 16 teams in positions 9 to 24 before the ball was kicked, 14 had secured a place in the qualifiers when the final whistles sounded across the continent.

The two exceptions to this trend are Porto and Young Boys.

In the case of the Portuguese giants, it was in joyful circumstances, as a 3-1 win over home club Rangers was enough to move them up to fifth place and ensure direct qualification to the round of 16.

But it was mixed feelings for the Young Boys

The Swiss team started the night in 23rd place and looked on their way to securing a place in the playoffs until they suffered a tough 3-2 defeat in the last minute to Stuttgart.

The loss – which came after Gerardo Siwanee’s side came from a 2-0 deficit – ended the eight-match league stage in 25th place.

elsewhere, Celtic They ensured they were one of the 16 clubs to be drawn on Friday, as they saw off a Utrecht resurgence in the second half to claim a 4-2 win at Parkhead.

The win moves Celtic up three places to 21st, which moves them alongside the other British side Nottingham Forest In the playoff round.

Forest, the two-time European champion, achieved a crushing 4-0 victory over Ferencvaros to rise to 13th place in the table.

Despite the win, the results were not enough in their favor for them to sneak into automatic qualification to the knockout round.

The two British clubs will be joined by Genk, Bologna, Stuttgart, Ferencvaros, Viktoria Plzen, Red Star Zvezda, Celta Vigo, PAOK, Lille, Fenerbahce, Panathinaikos, Ludogorets, Dinamo Zagreb and Brann.

The draw for the Europa League playoff round will be drawn on Friday in Switzerland.