Nottingham Forest v Malmö, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – Europa League News
Live Updates
Major Moments
- Match ended: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Goal scored!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Match concluded: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Lineups announced: Starting players for Forest vs Malmö
- Starting players: Starting XI for Rangers vs Braga
- Opening notes
Latest Standings
The opening scores greatly affect the competition standings. Celtic climbed to 17th position and are back in the secure knockout positions.
| Rank | Club | Played | Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Midtjylland | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | Freiburg | 5 | 5 | 11 |
| 4 | Ferencvaros | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| 5 | FC Porto | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| 17 | Celtic | 5 | -1 | 7 |
| 25 | Nottm Forest | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 35 | Rangers | 4 | -7 | 0 |
| 33 | Malmo FF | 4 | -5 | 1 |
Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
Villa managed to hold on for the three points and became tied on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the top of the league phase standings. Villa had difficulty of that at the end.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
Young Boys earned a chance through Monteiro but only have stoppage time to score the leveler!
Celtic Secure Victory
A significant and important win for the Scottish team. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic fought back with goals from Yang, the Japanese midfielder and Benjamin Nygren.
Game Developments
Aston Villa, at the same time, retained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at their home ground.
Malen's second goal there triggered intense reactions in the opposition stands, with visiting fans engaging with police. Scuffles broke out and projectiles hurled at both the authorities and at the playing surface, with the player being struck in the head by a drinking vessel.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
Nottingham Forest: John Victor, The defender, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Yates, The defensive midfielder, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, The striker.
Malmö FF: Ellborg, Larsen, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, The midfielder, Johnsen, The midfielder, The attacker, Gudjohnsen, The striker.
Match official: Osmers (Germany)
Lineups: Rangers vs Braga
The Light Blues: The goalkeeper, Tavernier, The center-back, Djiga, Aarons, The midfielder, Diomande, Raskin, Gassama, The forward, Chermiti.
The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, Niakate, The full-back, The midfielder, Joao Moutinho, The midfielder, Martinez, Navarro, Ricardo Horta.
Official: Lindhout (from Netherlands)
Match Background
The European clash and past encounters. The two clubs have a unique relationship, also facing each other in Forest's previous European adventure in the UEFA Cup of 1995-96, but it is the European Cup final decades past that entwines these two together, with the record-breaking signing Francis netting the decisive goal of a pretty miserable final to secure historic victory for the red half of Nottingham.
"The legendary management duo, unassuming and low-key amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench quietly watching the revelry," noted the journalist. Theirs has been an remarkable feat that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from the lower league to European stage in three seasons."
One should note to pause a little on Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Nordic team to reach the final under English manager Bob Houghton.
Tonight's game is a very different to that peak, closer perhaps to the Uefa Cup first-round tie between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are full of confidence after thrashing Liverpool at Liverpool's home on Saturday, while Malmö haven't played officially since early November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The smart money is on the home team tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this clockwatch. The Scottish side have already been lost to a Braga this season. Rangers are last place of the competition table at the midpoint of the group stage with precisely zero points. They badly want a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a recovery for a qualification place.
Updates will continue with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the current standings from the previous games, including the Birmingham match and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.