Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – Europa League Coverage
Match Coverage
Major Moments
- Final whistle: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- GOAL!: Joël Monteiro scores for Young Boys at 90+1
- Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
- Lineups announced: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Team news: Starting XI for Rangers vs Braga
- Preamble
League Position
These early results strongly influence the league rankings. Celtic have moved up to 17th position and regained position in the safety of playoff places.
| Position | Side | P | GD | 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 |
Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
Villa managed to hold on for the win and became tied on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the summit of the competition table. The Birmingham club made hard work of that at the end.
90+1: Monteiro Pulls One Back
The Swiss side created a chance through Monteiro but had just stoppage time to get the tying goal!
Celtic Secure Victory
A significant and important win for the Scottish team. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from the Korean forward, Reo Hatate and Nygren.
Match Updates
Villa, meanwhile, retained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at the stadium.
Malen's second goal there caused dramatic events in the opposition stands, with visiting fans engaging with police. Scuffles broke out and projectiles hurled at both the police and toward the field, with Malen himself being hit on the head by a drinking vessel.
Starting XI Revealed
Nottingham Forest: John Victor, The defender, The center-back, The defender, Morato, Yates, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö FF: Ellborg, Larsen, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, The striker.
Referee: The German referee (German)
Team News: Rangers v Braga
Rangers: The goalkeeper, Tavernier, The center-back, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, The midfielder, The midfielder, Gassama, Danilo, The striker.
The Portuguese side: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, Moutinho, Gorby, Martinez, Navarro, The striker.
Match official: The Dutch referee (Holland)
Match Background
Forest vs Malmö and memories of 1979. The two clubs have a special connection, also facing each other in Forest's previous European adventure in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the premier competition final decades past that entwines these two together, with the groundbreaking transfer Francis scoring the winner of a rather dull championship game to secure historic victory 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 serenely viewing the revelry," wrote the match reporter. Their achievement was an outstanding achievement that it is hard to see being repeated – from the lower league to continental competition in just three years."
Worth mentioning to reflect upon Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Nordic team to advance to the ultimate game under British coach Houghton.
This match 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 defeating Liverpool convincingly at the famous ground on Saturday, while Malmö haven't played officially since 9 November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The general expectation is on the English side tonight.
Additional games on offer in this match tracking. Rangers have already been beaten by a European rival this season. Rangers are at the foot of the league rankings at the middle of the group stage with no points whatsoever. They badly want a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a comeback for a playoff spot.
We'll keep you up to date with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the current standings from the concluded fixtures, including Villa vs Young Boys and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
