Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – UEFA Europa League Coverage
Match Coverage
Important Updates
- Match ended: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Score!: Joël Monteiro scores for Young Boys at 90+1
- Game over: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
- Lineups announced: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Starting players: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Preamble
League Position
The initial outcomes strongly influence the competition standings. The Glasgow side rose to 17th position and are back in the secure playoff places.
| Position | Team | Played | GD | 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 |
Match Result: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
Aston Villa secured for the victory and moved level on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the peak of the competition table. The English side made hard work of that in the final stages.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
Young Boys earned a lifeline through Monteiro but only have stoppage time to get the tying goal!
Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
A significant and important win for the Scottish team. Although they went 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from Yang Hyun-jun, the Japanese midfielder and Nygren.
Game Developments
Aston Villa, concurrently, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at the stadium.
Malen's double there sparked furious scenes in the visitors' section, with visiting fans clashing with police. Punches were thrown and projectiles hurled at both the authorities and toward the field, with the goalscorer being struck in the head by a plastic cup.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
The Reds: Victor, Abbott, The center-back, Murillo, The full-back, Yates, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö FF: The goalkeeper, The defender, The center-back, Duric, The full-back, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, Busanello.
Official: Harm Osmers (Germany)
Starting Players
The Light Blues: Butland, The defender, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, Diomande, The midfielder, Gassama, Danilo, The striker.
The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, The center-back, Niakate, The full-back, The midfielder, Moutinho, Gorby, The attacker, Navarro, Ricardo Horta.
Referee: Lindhout (Holland)
Match Background
The European clash and past encounters. The these sides have a special connection, also meeting in Forest's last European campaign in the UEFA Cup of 1995-96, but it is the European Cup final decades past that entwines these two together, with Britain's first £1m player Francis netting the decisive goal of a pretty miserable final to secure historic victory for the Forest supporters.
"The legendary management duo, unassuming and low-key amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench quietly watching the celebrations," wrote the match reporter. This represented an remarkable feat that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from the lower league to European stage in a short period."
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.
The current fixture is a far cry from that peak, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in 1995-96. Forest are riding high after thrashing Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, while Malmö haven't played officially since 9 November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The smart money is on the home team tonight.
Numerous other matches on offer in this clockwatch. The Scottish side have already been defeated by a Braga this season. Rangers are last place of the competition table at the middle of the group stage with precisely zero points. They desperately need a victory if they are to have any hope of making a late surge for a knockout position.
Coverage will persist with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the latest scores from the previous games, including the Birmingham match and the Dutch-Scottish clash.
