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Roma missed three attempts at an equalizing penalty, Celtic had an equalizer ruled out after a “baffling” VAR decision and Nottingham Forest remained winless under Ange Postecoglou after a dispiriting loss in the Europa League on Thursday.

Aston Villa seem to have firmly shaken off their early-season struggles, though, as captain John McGinn scored again in a 2-0 win over Feyenoord for the English team’s third straight victory in all competitions.

Celtic were left to rue a strange VAR decision as they lost 2-0 to Braga after an earlier equalizer was ruled out for handball, even though replays seemed to clearly show that Kelechi Iheanacho had scored the goal without any use of his arm. The VAR took several minutes to review the incident before upholding the referee’s initial decision to disallow the goal, which Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers lamented as “baffling.”

An even stranger scene took place in Rome, where the home team lost 1-0 to Lille even though it was given three tries to equalize from the penalty spot late in the game. The first two efforts from Artem Dovbyk were both saved by goalkeeper Berke Ozer — only for the referee to order the penalty to be retaken each time because of encroachment.

Roma then switched penalty takers to Matias Soule, but Ozer saved that one as well, diving to his right to punch the ball away in the 85th minute — nearly four minutes after Dovbyk had made his first attempt.

Hakon Arnar Haraldsson had put Lille ahead with an angled shot in the sixth minute at Stadio Olimpico, which was enough for the French club to earn a second win in two games.

Pressure grows on Postecoglou

Nottingham Forest lost 3-2 to Danish club Midtjylland in their first home game in a European competition in almost 30 years, leaving recently hired manager Ange Postecoglou without a win after six games in charge.

Some Forest fans seemed to be running out of patience with the Australian, chanting for him to be sacked during the final minutes of the game.

Midtjylland led 3-1 after substitute Valdemar Andreasen scored in the 88th minute, before Chris Wood reduced the deficit from the spot in stoppage time.

Rangers also lost 2-1 at Sturm Graz, while Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to a 3-1 “home” defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in a game played in Serbia. Dinamo fans were banned from the game by UEFA after a “thorough risk analysis.”

Villa win again

McGinn scored on a fast counter in the 79th minute to seal the win for Aston Villa after Emiliano Buendía had put the team ahead from the edge of the area on the hour mark.

Until the goal, the hosts wasted a number of decent chances.

Still, it was a fitting return for Villa to Feyenoord’s De Kuip Stadium where the club triumphed 1-0 over Bayern Munich in 1982 to become the European champion.

McGinn has now scored in each of Villa’s three wins — against Bologna in the Europa League and Fulham in the Premier League — after the team opened the season with two losses and three draws domestically.

In other early games, a precise strike by Giovani Lo Celso from the edge of the area and an own goal from Spanish defender Son gave Real Betis a 2-0 win away at Ludogorets.

Fenerbahce forward Kerem Akturkoglu scored when one-on-one with goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf early in the game and added the second with a deflected shot en route to a 2-1 win over Nice.

Bologna drew 1-1 at home against Freiburg after Riccardo Orsolini scored for the hosts on a rebound before Junior Adamu equalized from the spot.

Milan Smit scored two late goals as Go Ahead Eagles came from behind to beat Panathinaikos 2-1 in Athens.

Crystal Palace shine in European debut

Crystal Palace marked their first game in a major European competition by beating Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 in the Conference League. The victory extended the London team’s unbeaten run to a club record 19 games, stretching back to April.

Daniel Muñoz headed in Yeremy Pino’s cross and substitute Eddie Nketiah doubled the advantage in the 58th. Palace finished the game with 10 men after midfielder Borna Sosa received his second yellow card in the 76th minute, but it was another impressive performance for Oliver Glasner’s side which remains the last unbeaten team in the Premier League after beating defending champion Liverpool 2-1 on Saturday.

The FA cup winner was demoted to to the third-tier Conference League for breaching UEFA rules on club ownership.

Also, Rayo Vallecano celebrated their return to Europe after 25 years with a 2-0 win over newcomer Shkëndija from North Macedonia.

The Conference League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League and the Europa League. But teams play only six, not eight different opponents during the league phase.
 

CLEVELAND: Dillon Dingler grew up rooting for the Cleveland Guardians. But on Thursday, he sent them home.
Playing in the ballpark where he attended many games as a youngster, the second-year catcher hit a go-ahead solo homer in the sixth inning to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 6-3 victory over Cleveland in the decisive Game 3 of their AL Wild Card Series.
Dingler also threw out José Ramírez trying to steal second at a pivotal juncture, helping the Tigers reach the Division Series for the second consecutive season.
“It’s obviously cool. I was always a longtime Guardians fan growing up,” said Dingler, raised about 55 miles from Cleveland in Massillon, Ohio. “It was special. Every time we come here, a lot of family, a lot of friends cheering on, and it’s kind of cool because all of them are Guardians fans.
“Ultimately, it was very special. Kind of closing the door, winning this series.”
Dingler had 16 family members and friends at a Tigers-Guardians game earlier this season. On Thursday, it was only his parents and wife.
Dingler went 8 for 22 in his last six regular-season games, but he was hitless in nine at-bats in the playoff series before coming to the plate with the score tied 1-all and two outs in the sixth.
He got an elevated changeup on a 1-1 count from left-hander Joey Cantillo and launched it 401 feet into the bleachers in left-center to give the Tigers the lead.
Dingler became the first Detroit batter to homer for his first postseason hit since Nick Castellanos in a 2014 Division Series against Baltimore.
Dingler also joined Parker Meadows  and Marty Castillo  as the only rookies in franchise history to hit go-ahead home runs in the postseason.
“I was scratching and crawling a little bit. I was able to get a pitch to hit and do a little damage,” Dingler said. “The team with the biggest momentum or the most momentum was the one that was going to carry on.”
Dingler went to Ohio State and was a second-round pick in the 2020 amateur draft. He made his major league debut last July and his first opening-day roster this season. He then became Detroit’s everyday catcher when Jake Rogers got hurt early in the year and took advantage of the opportunity.
Dingler, who turned 27 on Sept. 17, had a .278 batting average in 126 games along with 13 home runs and 57 RBIs. He also had nine three-hit games this season, tied for second-most among catchers in the majors.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, a former catcher himself, said Dingler’s stability and presence behind the plate have been huge.
“What he’s given us on the offensive side is exceptional,” Hinch said. “Our pitchers trust him. You have to earn that. You can’t just show up, be a big leaguer, put on a big league uniform and get that. Inevitably, you have to go out and do it.”
Right-hander Kyle Finnegan, who got the win by retiring all four Cleveland batters he faced, also lauded Dingler’s composure.
“He’s a great target to throw to and it gives you a lot of confidence even when things aren’t going your way. He has a way to calm you down and get you back in the strike zone,” Finnegan said. “And I mean, for him to hit a big one over there is amazing.”
The series win over the AL Central champion Guardians gave the wild-card Tigers plenty of satisfaction. Detroit was up 15 1/2 games on Cleveland in early July and 11 games on Sept. 4 before the biggest collapse in division or league play in baseball history.
Detroit lost five of six to Cleveland over the past two weeks as the Guardians won the division for the second straight season.
The victory also avenged last year’s loss to the Guardians in the deciding Game 5 of their Division Series.
“It doesn’t matter how you get . We got here,” Tigers outfielder Riley Greene said. “We’re moving on and we feel great.”
After having one of the AL’s best records through August, the Tigers are hoping they’ve got back their groove when the Division Series begins in Seattle on Saturday.
“We had our ups and we certainly had our downs. Careful — maybe we’ve woken a sleeping giant with this team,” owner Christopher Ilitch said in the jubilant clubhouse after the game.