Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Braga vs Rangers, and Additional – Europa League Coverage
Match Coverage
Major Moments
- Final whistle: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Goal scored!: Joël Monteiro scores for Young Boys at 90+1
- Full-time: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Lineups announced: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Lineups revealed: Rangers and Braga lineups
- Opening notes
Latest Standings
The opening scores strongly influence the competition standings. Celtic have moved up to 17th position and are back in the secure playoff places.
| Position | Club | Played | Goal 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 win and moved level on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the peak of the competition table. The English side struggled of that during the closing minutes.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
Young Boys earned a lifeline through Monteiro but only have four more minutes to find an equaliser!
Celtic Secure Victory
A memorable and crucial win for the Glasgow side. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic roared back with goals from Yang, the Japanese midfielder and the Swedish striker.
Match Updates
Villa, meanwhile, retained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with around five minutes left at their home ground.
Malen's double there caused dramatic events in the away end, with Swiss fans engaging with police. Punches were thrown and projectiles hurled at both the officers and onto the pitch, with Malen himself being struck in the head by a drinking vessel.
Starting XI Revealed
Nottingham Forest: The goalkeeper, Abbott, Milenkovic, Murillo, The full-back, Yates, Sangare, Dominguez, The attacker, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö: The goalkeeper, Stryger Larsen, Jansson, Duric, The full-back, The midfielder, Johnsen, The midfielder, The attacker, The forward, Busanello.
Official: Harm Osmers (from Germany)
Starting Players
The Light Blues: The goalkeeper, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, The full-back, The midfielder, Diomande, The midfielder, Gassama, Danilo, The striker.
The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, Joao Moutinho, Gorby, Martinez, The forward, Ricardo Horta.
Referee: The Dutch referee (from Netherlands)
Match Background
Forest vs Malmö and historical connections. The these sides have a special connection, also facing each other in Forest's most recent continental tour in the 1995-96 Uefa Cup, but it is the European Cup final from 1979 that connects these teams, with the record-breaking signing Francis scoring the winner of a rather dull championship game to secure historic victory for the the English club.
"Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench quietly watching the mafficking," wrote the match reporter. Theirs has been an extraordinary accomplishment that it is hard to see being repeated – from the lower league to continental competition in a short period."
Worth mentioning to reflect upon Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Swedish club to advance to the ultimate game under manager Houghton.
This match is a very different to that pinnacle, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in that era. Forest are riding high after thrashing Liverpool at the famous ground on Saturday, while Malmö haven't kicked a competitive ball since last month following the end of the Swedish league season. The general expectation is on the English side tonight.
Numerous other matches on offer in this clockwatch. Rangers have already been beaten by a Braga this season. Rangers are last place of the 36-team Europa League standings at the midpoint of the initial phase with no points whatsoever. They badly want a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a recovery for a playoff spot.
Updates will continue with all the evening matches and provide the most recent results from the earlier matches, including Aston Villa v Young Boys and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
