Nottingham Forest v Malmö, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – Europa League Coverage
Live Updates
Important Updates
- Final whistle: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
- Score!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Full-time: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Team news: Starting players for Forest vs Malmö
- Team news: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Preamble
Latest Standings
These early results strongly influence the Europa League table. The Glasgow side rose to 17th place and regained position in the protected qualification spots.
| Pos | Club | P | 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 |
Match Result: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
Aston Villa secured for the victory and became tied on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the summit of the group rankings. The Birmingham club made hard work of that during the closing minutes.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
The Swiss side created a chance through Monteiro but had just stoppage time to score the leveler!
Celtic Secure Victory
A memorable and crucial win for the Scottish team. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic roared back with goals from Yang, Hatate and Benjamin Nygren.
Match Updates
Aston Villa, meanwhile, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at Villa Park.
Malen's double there caused dramatic events in the opposition stands, with visiting fans engaging with police. Punches were thrown and projectiles hurled at both the authorities and toward the field, with the goalscorer being caught on the head by a throwable object.
Starting XI Revealed
Forest: Victor, Abbott, The center-back, Murillo, Morato, The midfielder, Sangare, Dominguez, The attacker, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö: The goalkeeper, Larsen, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, The midfielder, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, The striker.
Match official: Harm Osmers (German)
Team News: Rangers v Braga
The Light Blues: The goalkeeper, The defender, The center-back, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, The midfielder, The midfielder, Gassama, Danilo, The striker.
Braga: The goalkeeper, The defender, The center-back, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, The midfielder, Joao Moutinho, Gorby, Martinez, Navarro, Ricardo Horta.
Official: Lindhout (from Netherlands)
Historical Context
Nottingham Forest v Malmö and memories of 1979. The these sides have a historical link, also meeting in Forest's previous European adventure in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the premier competition final 46 years ago that links these clubs, with the groundbreaking transfer Francis scoring the winner of a pretty miserable final to secure historic victory for the Forest supporters.
"Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, unassuming and low-key amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench calmly observing the revelry," wrote the match reporter. Theirs has been an outstanding achievement that it is hard to see being repeated – from second tier to European stage in a short period."
It's also interesting to consider Malmö, who became the initial and final Swedish club to reach the final under British coach Houghton.
This match is a far cry from that summit, closer perhaps to the previous continental meeting between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are riding high after thrashing Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, while Malmö haven't kicked a competitive ball since early November following the end of the Swedish league season. The general expectation is on the Forest tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this match tracking. The Glasgow club have already been lost to a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are last place of the 36-team Europa League standings at the half-way stage of the group stage with precisely zero points. They urgently require a victory if they are to have any hope of making a late surge for a knockout position.
Coverage will persist with all the evening matches and provide the most recent results from the concluded fixtures, including Villa vs Young Boys and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
