Nottingham Forest v Malmö, Braga vs Rangers, and More – Europa League News
Match Coverage
Key Events
- Match ended: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Goal scored!: Joël Monteiro scores for Young Boys at 90+1
- Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
- Lineups announced: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Team news: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Introduction
Latest Standings
The initial outcomes greatly affect the Europa League table. Celtic climbed to the 17th spot and returned to the safety of playoff places.
| Rank | Team | P | GD | 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 |
Match Result: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
Villa managed to hold on for the three points and became tied on points with leaders Midtjylland at the summit of the group rankings. The Birmingham club struggled of that at the end.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
Young Boys gave themselves a lifeline through Monteiro but had just four more minutes to get the tying goal!
Celtic Secure Victory
A significant and important win for the Scottish team. Even after falling 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from Yang, the Japanese midfielder and the Swedish striker.
Game Developments
The Birmingham side, meanwhile, retained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with approximately five minutes left at their home ground.
The Dutch forward's brace there caused dramatic events in the visitors' section, with Swiss fans confronting police. Punches were thrown and projectiles hurled at both the authorities and toward the field, with the player being caught on the head by a throwable object.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
Nottingham Forest: Victor, Abbott, Milenkovic, Murillo, The full-back, Yates, Sangare, The midfielder, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, The striker.
Malmö: Ellborg, The defender, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, Busanello.
Referee: Osmers (Germany)
Starting Players
The Glasgow side: Butland, Tavernier, The center-back, The defender, The full-back, The midfielder, The midfielder, Raskin, The attacker, Danilo, Chermiti.
The Portuguese side: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, Niakate, The full-back, Zalazar, Moutinho, The midfielder, Martinez, Navarro, The striker.
Referee: Lindhout (Netherlands)
Historical Context
The European clash and past encounters. The two clubs have a historical link, also facing each other in Forest's most recent continental tour in the 1995-96 Uefa Cup, but it is the continental championship from 1979 that entwines these two together, with Britain's first £1m player the English forward scoring the winner of a pretty miserable final to claim legendary status for the the English club.
"Forest's famous bosses, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench quietly watching the celebrations," commented the writer. This represented an extraordinary accomplishment that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from the lower league to European stage in three seasons."
Worth mentioning to pause a little on Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Nordic team to advance to the ultimate game 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 1995-96. Forest are full of confidence after thrashing Liverpool at the famous ground on Saturday, while Malmö haven't kicked a competitive ball since early November following the end of the Swedish league season. The smart money is on the home team tonight.
Additional games on offer in this live coverage. The Scottish side have already been lost to a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the 36-team Europa League standings at the middle of the initial phase with no points whatsoever. They urgently require a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a late surge for a knockout position.
We'll keep you up to date with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the most recent results from the concluded fixtures, including the Birmingham match and the Dutch-Scottish clash.
