Midtjylland missed all three of their penalties in a decisive shoot-out as **Nottingham Forest** overcame a first-leg deficit to book their spot in the Europa League quarter-finals.
Forest had trailed 1-0 heading into the second leg but registered a 2-1 away victory in Denmark before prevailing 3-0 on penalties.
Goals have evaded Forest for the best part of a tough campaign but they made their quality count on a couple of occasions and then again from the spot to set up a quarter-final clash with either Stuttgart or Porto.
A much-changed Forest side were looking to overturn their narrow deficit from the City Ground last week but Vitor Pereira's team selection made it seem like the focus was on Premier League survival rather than European qualification.
Forest were dominant but were still unable to breach Elias Rafn Olafsson’s goal when Ryan Yates hit the crossbar and Philip Billing cleared one off the line.
However, they managed to get their deserved opener towards the end of the first period courtesy of Nicolas Dominguez’s header and they edged ahead in the tie through captain Yates’ rocket before Martin Erlic’s strike for the hosts sent the match to extra time.
Lorenzo Lucca and Yates had goals ruled out through offside in extra time and, in the shootout, Midtjylland missed all three from the spot while Forest were perfect.
The Danish team had won both of their previous two Europa League meetings with Forest coming into the match but it was the English side that prevailed when it mattered the most to continue their European adventure.
**Conference League**
Ismaila Sarr booked **Crystal Palace** a quarter-final meeting with Fiorentina with the extra-time winner in their 2-1 victory at nine-man AEK Larnaca to settle the tie by the same score on aggregate.
The Senegal international also opened the scoring in the 13th minute at the home of the second-placed Cypriot First Division side, where the visitors emerged with more attacking intent than last week's lacklustre Selhurst Park draw.
Enric Saborit powered home a header to draw the sides level in the 63rd minute, then made things much harder for his team-mates when he was sent off for tugging Sarr down 10 minutes later.
Sarr finally broke the deadlock from a Palace corner in the ninth minute of the first period of added time, and came within inches of a hat-trick when he clipped the crossbar twice before the final whistle.
The hosts played out the closing minutes with nine men after Petros Ioannou was dismissed for a dangerous challenge on second-half substitute Jean-Philippe Mateta, who appeared alongside January club record signing Jorgen Strand Larsen for the first time.
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