Nottingham Forest v Malmö, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – Europa League Coverage
Match Coverage
Major Moments
- Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
- Goal scored!: Late goal from Monteiro makes it 2-1
- Match concluded: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Team news: Starting players for Forest vs Malmö
- Lineups revealed: Starting XI for Rangers vs Braga
- Opening notes
Current Table
The initial outcomes have significant impact on the league rankings. Celtic climbed to the 17th spot and are back in the protected playoff places.
| Position | Side | Played | Goal Difference | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
Aston Villa secured for the victory and moved level on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the summit of the group rankings. Villa struggled of that in the final stages.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
Young Boys gave themselves a lifeline through Monteiro but were left with four more minutes to score the leveler!
Glasgow Side Wins 3-1
A famous and valuable win for the Celtic. Although they went 1-0 down, Celtic fought back with goals from the Korean forward, Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren.
Latest Action
Aston Villa, concurrently, maintained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with approximately five minutes left at the stadium.
Malen's second goal there triggered intense reactions in the visitors' section, with visiting fans clashing with police. Scuffles broke out and objects thrown at both the authorities and onto the pitch, with the goalscorer being hit on the head by a drinking vessel.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
The Reds: John Victor, The defender, Milenkovic, Murillo, The full-back, The midfielder, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö: Ellborg, The defender, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, The midfielder, Johnsen, The midfielder, Bolin, The forward, The striker.
Match official: Osmers (Germany)
Starting Players
The Glasgow side: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, The defender, Aarons, The midfielder, The midfielder, Raskin, Gassama, Danilo, Chermiti.
The Portuguese side: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi, The midfielder, The experienced midfielder, Gorby, Martinez, Navarro, Ricardo Horta.
Official: The Dutch referee (from Netherlands)
Match Background
Nottingham Forest v Malmö and past encounters. The these sides have a unique relationship, 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 entwines these two together, with Britain's first £1m player Francis heading the only goal of a rather dull championship game to clinch eternal glory for the red half of Nottingham.
"Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, modestly dressed amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench serenely viewing the celebrations," wrote the match reporter. Theirs has been an outstanding achievement that it is hard to see being repeated – from Second Division to continental competition in just three years."
Worth mentioning to reflect upon Malmö, who became the pioneering and only Swedish club to reach the final under manager Houghton.
Tonight's game is a distant from that summit, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are riding high after beating Liverpool 3-0 at Liverpool's home on Saturday, while Malmö haven't played officially since 9 November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The popular prediction is on the home team tonight.
Additional games on offer in this match tracking. Rangers have already been beaten by a Braga this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the league rankings at the half-way stage of the group stage with no points whatsoever. They desperately need a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a recovery for a knockout position.
We'll keep you up to date with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the latest scores from the earlier matches, including the Birmingham match and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
