Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Braga vs Rangers, and More – UEFA Europa League News
Match Coverage
Important Updates
- Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
- GOAL!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Game over: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Starting XI: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Team news: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Preamble
Latest Standings
The initial outcomes greatly affect the Europa League table. Celtic climbed to 17th place and are back in the protected playoff places.
| Pos | Club | 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 |
Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
Aston Villa secured for the three points and went equal on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the top of the league phase standings. The English side made hard work of that in the final stages.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
The Swiss side created a lifeline through Monteiro but only have additional time to get the tying goal!
Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
A memorable and crucial win for the Scottish team. Even after falling 1-0 down, Celtic fought back with goals from Yang Hyun-jun, the Japanese midfielder and the Swedish striker.
Latest Action
Aston Villa, concurrently, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with around five minutes left at Villa Park.
Malen's second goal there sparked furious scenes in the away end, with visiting fans confronting police. Scuffles broke out and projectiles hurled at both the police and onto the pitch, with Malen himself being hit on the head by a throwable object.
Starting XI Revealed
Forest: Victor, Abbott, The center-back, Murillo, The full-back, The midfielder, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
The Swedish side: The goalkeeper, Stryger Larsen, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, Busanello.
Match official: Harm Osmers (from Germany)
Starting Players
The Light Blues: Butland, The defender, The center-back, The defender, The full-back, The midfielder, The midfielder, Raskin, The attacker, Danilo, Chermiti.
The Portuguese side: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, The experienced midfielder, The midfielder, The attacker, The forward, Horta.
Match official: Allard Lindhout (Holland)
Match Background
Nottingham Forest v Malmö and memories of 1979. 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 46 years ago that links these clubs, with the groundbreaking transfer Francis heading the only goal of a pretty miserable final to clinch eternal glory for the red half of Nottingham.
"Forest's famous bosses, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench calmly observing the mafficking," noted the journalist. This represented an outstanding achievement that it is unlikely to be replicated – from the lower league to European stage in a short period."
It's also interesting to reflect upon Malmö, who became the initial and final Nordic team to advance to the ultimate game under manager Houghton.
Tonight's game is a very different to that summit, closer perhaps to the Uefa Cup first-round tie between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are riding high after thrashing Liverpool at Liverpool's home on Saturday, while Malmö have been inactive since 9 November following the end of the Swedish league season. The general expectation is on the Forest tonight.
Numerous other matches on offer in this live coverage. Rangers have already been defeated by a European rival this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the 36-team Europa League standings at the half-way stage of the initial phase with precisely zero points. They urgently require a victory if they are to have any hope of making a recovery for a qualification place.
We'll keep you up to date with all the late games and provide the current standings from the previous games, including Aston Villa v Young Boys and Feyenoord v Celtic.