Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Braga vs Rangers, and Additional – Europa League News
Live Updates
Key Events
- Final whistle: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- GOAL!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Game over: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Team news: Starting players for Forest vs Malmö
- Starting players: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Introduction
League Position
The initial outcomes strongly influence the league rankings. Celtic climbed to 17th position and are back in the safety of playoff places.
| Position | Team | Played | 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 leaders Midtjylland at the summit of the competition table. Villa made hard work of that in the final stages.
90+1: Monteiro Pulls One Back
The Swiss side created a hope through Monteiro but were left with four more minutes to get the tying goal!
Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
A famous and valuable win for the Glasgow side. Even after falling 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from Yang, Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren.
Game Developments
Villa, concurrently, maintained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with approximately five minutes left at the stadium.
The Dutch forward's brace there caused dramatic events in the away end, with Young Boys supporters engaging with police. Physical altercations occurred and projectiles hurled at both the authorities and toward the field, with the goalscorer being caught on the head by a throwable object.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
Forest: The goalkeeper, The defender, The center-back, Murillo, Morato, The midfielder, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö: Ellborg, The defender, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, The striker.
Official: Harm Osmers (German)
Lineups: Rangers vs Braga
The Light Blues: Butland, The defender, The center-back, The defender, The full-back, The midfielder, Diomande, Raskin, The attacker, Danilo, Chermiti.
The Portuguese side: The goalkeeper, The defender, Lagerbielke, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, Joao Moutinho, Gorby, The attacker, Navarro, Horta.
Official: Lindhout (Netherlands)
Preamble
The European clash and memories of 1979. The both teams have a special connection, also meeting in Forest's most recent continental tour 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 largely forgettable match to claim legendary status for the red half of Nottingham.
"The legendary management duo, unassuming and low-key amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench calmly observing the celebrations," noted the journalist. This represented an remarkable feat that it is unlikely to be replicated – from second tier to European stage in three seasons."
It's also interesting to pause a little on Malmö, who became the pioneering and only Swedish club to make the championship match under manager Houghton.
Tonight's game is a very different to that peak, closer perhaps to the Uefa Cup first-round tie between Forest and Malmö in that era. Forest are riding high after beating Liverpool 3-0 at Liverpool's home on Saturday, while Malmö haven't played officially since early November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The smart money is on the home team tonight.
Numerous other matches on offer in this live coverage. The Glasgow club have already been beaten by a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the league rankings at the half-way stage of the initial phase with exactly zero. They badly want a victory if they are to have any hope of making a comeback for a qualification place.
Updates will continue with all the evening matches and provide the current standings from the previous games, including Villa vs Young Boys and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
