By Yossi Medina and Eden Roitfarb
What a night it was in the Europa Conference League.
Entering the second leg of the round of 16, no one had secured a spot in the next round.
It was all to play for, so here are the best moments from the latest round of games.
Unai Emery’s masterclass
When it comes to Unai Emery-managed teams at this stage in a European competition, you can be sure that it’s going to be tremendous.
Aston Villa didn’t let their disappointing 0-0 draw in the first leg against Ajax stop them from thrashing their rivals 4-0.
It was a night to remember in Birmingham, as the home side qualified for their first European quarter-final since 1999.
After winning the Europa League more than once in the past, can Emery do it again in the Conference League?
Party at the Toumba
After eliminating Hajduk Split back in the qualifiers in August, PAOK made a Croatian double with an amazing 5-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb at the Toumba Stadium.
Dinamo came in with a 2-0 victory from the first leg, but they were simply outplayed in Greece.
Goals from Baba Rahman, Konstantinos Koulierakis, Brandon Thomas and Andrija Zivkovic made all the difference
After reaching the quarter-finals in the first season of the competition, PAOK are back here again, but with the aim of going at least one step further this time.
PAOK are through to the quarterfinals. Baba Rahman celebrates his goal (Photo courtesy: PAOK FC official website)
Unstoppable Olympiacos night
That wasn’t the only great Greek performance of the night.
Olympiacos lost 4-1 in their first leg at home against Maccabi Tel Aviv, but no one imagine that they could comeback so easily.
By half time, Olympiacos were already leading 3-0. Even a goal from the penalty spot from Eran Zahavi couldn’t stop them.
Ayoub Al Kaabi replied quickly with a bicycle kick and, with Olympiacos leading 4-1, the game had to be decided by extra time.
And here Olympiacos would carry on the humiliation of their Israeli opponents.
Stevan Jovetic and Youssef El-Arabi completed the comeback, as they won 6-1 on the night.
It’s safe to say that it wasn’t one of the best nights for Maccabi Tel Aviv, and their manager Robbie Keane can feel the disappointment of missing out on such an important achievement.
Fiorentina survive after another knockout scare
La Viola have been one of the more successful teams in the early years of the Conference League, but they have a habit of complicating things for themselves, especially in the knockout stages.
Tonight was no different, as they hosted Maccabi Haifa with a 4-3 aggregate lead.
A very poor game seemed to be killed off with yet another Antonin Barak crunch-time goal, as he headed the Italian side into a 1-0 lead just before the hour mark.
However things are never calm and relaxed for their head coach, Vincenzo Italiano.
Anan Khalaili, the 19 year-old Israeli prospect, equalized in the 88th minute, and set up a nervous final few minutes for Fiorentina.
They would go on to hold on to the 1-1 draw, sending them through to the next round.
Haifa and coach Mesay Dego can be proud of their European campaign, which started all the way back in July in the Champions League qualifiers.
A resepctful European campaign for Maccabi Haifa and Anan Khalaili has come to an end in Florence. (Photo courtesy: Maccabi Haifa official website)
The end of the Norwegian fairytale
Molde hoped to continue their journey in this year’s tournament, but an experienced Club Brugge side was there to end it.
Brugge lost 2-1 in the first leg in Norway, but this time they had their own Scandinavian talent on display.
Andreas Skov Olsen scored twice to take the lead in the aggregate score.
Michal Skoras, who was an important part of Lech Poznan's journey to the quarter-finals last year, scored to conclude a strong 3-0 win for Brugge.
After having two Belgian sides compete at this stage last year, Club Brugge is continuing the tradition of the country in the Conference League quarter-finals.
First European Quarters for Viktoria Plzen
A team that hasn’t been to a European quarter-final before - and will experience it for the first time this year - is Czech side Viktoria Plzen.
They advanced in a dramatic fashion, on penalties against Servette.
For the neutral viewer, the two teams were disappointing, seeing out yet another 0-0 draw - marking 210 minutes of goalless football over the two legs.
But Servette paid the price with three poor spot kicks, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
Plzen also managed to salvage some pride for Czech football, after both Prague sides got demolished in the Europa League over the past week.
Plzen are not the only side to qualify for their first quarter-final this year. Lille saw out a 1-1 draw against Sturm Graz, winning 4-1 on aggregate.
In another game:
Fenerbahce advance to the quarter-finals, after losing only 1-0 at home to Union Saint Gilloise. That was after a 3-0 win away in Belgium last week.
