Forest vs Malmö, Rangers vs Braga, and Additional – Europa League Coverage
Match Coverage
Key Events
- Match ended: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Score!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
- Team news: Starting players for Forest vs Malmö
- Team news: Rangers and Braga lineups
- Preamble
League Position
The opening scores strongly influence the competition standings. Celtic have moved up to 17th place and are back in the safety of qualification spots.
| Pos | Side | Matches | 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
The English side clung on for the victory and moved level on points with leaders Midtjylland at the summit of the league phase standings. The Birmingham club had difficulty of that during the closing minutes.
90+1: Monteiro Pulls One Back
Young Boys gave themselves a hope through Monteiro but had just stoppage time to get the tying goal!
Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
A famous and valuable win for the Celtic. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic fought back with goals from Yang Hyun-jun, the Japanese midfielder and the Swedish striker.
Latest Action
Villa, concurrently, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with around five minutes left at the stadium.
The Dutch forward's brace there caused dramatic events in the opposition stands, with Swiss fans clashing with police. Scuffles broke out and projectiles hurled at both the officers and toward the field, with Malen himself being caught on the head by a throwable object.
Team News: Nottingham Forest v Malmö
Forest: The goalkeeper, Abbott, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Yates, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, The striker.
The Swedish side: Ellborg, The defender, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, The forward, Busanello.
Match official: The German referee (Germany)
Starting Players
The Glasgow side: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, The defender, The full-back, The midfielder, Diomande, The midfielder, Gassama, The forward, Chermiti.
Braga: Hornicek, The defender, The center-back, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, Moutinho, Gorby, Martinez, The forward, The striker.
Match official: Lindhout (Netherlands)
Historical Context
The European clash and memories of 1979. The both teams have a historical link, also facing each other 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 record-breaking signing Trevor Francis scoring the winner of a pretty miserable final to claim legendary status for the Forest supporters.
"Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, unassuming and low-key amid all the festivities and cheers, stood for a moment on a bench serenely viewing the revelry," wrote the match reporter. This represented an outstanding achievement that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from second tier to European football in a short period."
Worth mentioning to reflect upon Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Scandinavian side to advance to the ultimate game under British coach Houghton.
This match is a distant from that summit, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are absolutely buzzing after thrashing Liverpool at the famous ground on Saturday, while Malmö haven't kicked a competitive ball since 9 November following the conclusion of their domestic campaign. The popular prediction is on the Forest tonight.
Numerous other matches on offer in this match tracking. Rangers have already been defeated by a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are last place of the competition table at the midpoint of the league phase with precisely zero points. They badly want a victory if they are to have any opportunity for a comeback for a qualification place.
Updates will continue with all the evening matches and provide the latest scores from the earlier matches, including Villa vs Young Boys and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
