—- Aston Villa came away from Lille with a 1-0 win thanks to Ollie Watkins’ goal ​in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie but Nottingham Forest lost 1-0 at home to Midtjylland.

Bologna and Roma ‌played out a 1-1 draw in the all-Italian clash while Porto won 2-1 at Stuttgart and Panathinaikos beat Betis thanks to a late penalty after playing the final half hour with 10 men.

Watkins netted his first European goal of the season and Villa take a slender lead ​back home for next Thursday’s second leg.

The only shot on target in a cagey opening half came late ​on with Romain Perraud’s effort from distance which Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez failed to hold, but ⁠defender Pau Torres was there to clear before Lille could take advantage.

Villa took the lead six minutes into the second ​half when Ezri Konsa sent a long ball forward which Emiliano Buendia headed on for Watkins to send a looping header over the keeper.

Substitute Cho Gue-Sung punished hosts Nottingham Forest for their wasteful finishing with a late header to give Midtjylland a 1-0 advantage at the City Ground.

Forest created numerous chances in a dominant opening 45 minutes, with Anderson, Igor Jesus, Ola Aina and Omari Hutchinson all testing goalkeeper Elias Olafsson.

Vitor Pereira switched from three in defence to a back four at half-time and Forest penned Midtjylland even deeper into their own half.

After the rain eased and Forest had spurned further chances through Nicolas Dominguez and Jesus, the Danish club seized their moment. Cho was afforded too much space to meet a cross with his head and grab the visitors a valuable goal before next week’s second leg.

In Italy, Bologna went in front five minutes after ​the break when Jonathan Rowe made a mazy run into the box before laying the ball off to Federico Bernardeschi who whipped a ‌first-time ⁠shot in off the far post.

Donyell Malen hit the post for Roma minutes later, and it was his poked pass which set up Lorenzo Pellegrini for the 71st-minute equaliser, with the substitute firing into an empty net.

Malen had a deflected shot come off the post and Roma’s Martin Vitik saw a header from a free kick hit the crossbar as neither side ​could find a winner.

Porto took ​the lead through Terem Moffi ⁠in the 21st minute, Moffi playing a neat one-two with Borja Sainz before rifling his shot into the corner of the net.

Six minutes later 18-year-old Rodrigo Mora doubled the lead, leaping ​to volley home Zaidu Sanusi’s cross from the left.

Stuttgart pulled one back five minutes ​from the break, ⁠Deniz Undav capitalising on a deflected pass with a half-volleyed shot on the turn.

Angelo Stiller thought he had levelled for the hosts with 20 minutes left but the goal was disallowed for offside.

Panathinaikos went down to 10 men with Anass Zaroury picking up a ⁠second ​yellow card and their keeper Alban Lafont kept Betis at bay with a ​number of fine saves before the hosts netted the winner with two minutes left.

Diego Llorente was sent off after earning a second booking for a ​foul on Karol Swiderski and Vicente Taborda made no mistake from the penalty spot.

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