Nottingham Forest v Malmö, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – Europa League Coverage
Live Updates
Important Updates
- Match ended: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
- Goal scored!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Game over: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Team news: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Team news: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Opening notes
League Position
These early results greatly affect the Europa League table. The Glasgow side rose to 17th position and returned to the secure qualification spots.
| Position | Club | P | Goal Difference | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Final Score: Aston Villa 2-1
The English side clung on for the victory and moved level on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the top of the league phase standings. Villa made hard work of that in the final stages.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
Young Boys gave themselves a chance through Monteiro but were left with additional time to score the leveler!
Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
A memorable and crucial win for the Celtic. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from the Korean forward, the Japanese midfielder and Benjamin Nygren.
Match Updates
Villa, concurrently, maintained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at Villa Park.
The Dutch forward's brace there caused dramatic events in the visitors' section, with Young Boys supporters confronting police. Punches were thrown and objects thrown at both the officers and toward the field, with the goalscorer being caught on the head by a throwable object.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
Nottingham Forest: Victor, The defender, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Yates, Sangare, The midfielder, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, The striker.
Malmö: Ellborg, Stryger Larsen, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, The midfielder, The midfielder, The midfielder, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, Busanello.
Official: Osmers (from Germany)
Starting Players
The Glasgow side: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, The midfielder, The midfielder, Raskin, Gassama, Danilo, Chermiti.
The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, The center-back, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, The experienced midfielder, Gorby, The attacker, Navarro, Ricardo Horta.
Match official: The Dutch referee (from Netherlands)
Preamble
The European clash and past encounters. The both teams have a unique relationship, also meeting in Forest's previous European adventure in the 1995-96 Uefa Cup, but it is the premier competition final from 1979 that links these clubs, with the groundbreaking transfer Francis scoring the winner of a rather dull championship game to claim legendary status for the the English club.
"The legendary management duo, modestly dressed amid all the festivities and cheers, stood for a moment on a bench serenely viewing the celebrations," commented the writer. Their achievement was an extraordinary accomplishment that it is unlikely to be replicated – from the lower league to continental competition in just three years."
Worth mentioning to reflect upon Malmö, who became the initial and final Nordic team to make the championship match under English manager Bob Houghton.
Tonight's game is a distant from that summit, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in 1995-96. Forest are absolutely buzzing after beating Liverpool 3-0 at the famous ground on Saturday, while Malmö have been inactive since early November following the conclusion of their domestic campaign. The general expectation is on the home team tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this clockwatch. Rangers have already been beaten by a European rival this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the competition table at the half-way stage of the group stage with no points whatsoever. They badly want a victory if they are to have any hope of making a late surge for a playoff spot.
We'll keep you up to date with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the most recent results from the earlier matches, including Villa vs Young Boys and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.