Forest vs Malmö, Rangers vs Braga, and More – Europa League Updates
Match Coverage
Important Updates
- Match ended: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Score!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Full-time: Feyenoord defeated 1-3 by Celtic
- Team news: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Lineups revealed: Starting XI for Rangers vs Braga
- Preamble
Latest Standings
The opening scores have significant impact on the league rankings. Celtic climbed to the 17th spot and are back in the safety of knockout positions.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 win and went equal on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the peak of the group rankings. The English side struggled of that during the closing minutes.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
Young Boys gave themselves a chance through Monteiro but had just additional time to score the leveler!
Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
A memorable and crucial win for the Scottish team. Even after falling 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from Yang, Hatate and the Swedish striker.
Latest Action
Villa, concurrently, retained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at Villa Park.
Malen's double there triggered intense reactions in the away end, with Swiss fans engaging with police. Punches were thrown and items launched at both the police and onto the pitch, with the player being hit on the head by a throwable object.
Starting XI Revealed
Nottingham Forest: John Victor, Abbott, The center-back, Murillo, Morato, The midfielder, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö FF: The goalkeeper, The defender, The center-back, The defender, The full-back, The midfielder, Johnsen, Skogmar, The attacker, The forward, Busanello.
Official: The German referee (German)
Starting Players
The Light Blues: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, The defender, Aarons, Barron, Diomande, Raskin, The attacker, Danilo, The striker.
Braga: The goalkeeper, Gomez, The center-back, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, Moutinho, The midfielder, Martinez, Navarro, Ricardo Horta.
Match official: Allard Lindhout (from Netherlands)
Preamble
Nottingham Forest v Malmö and past encounters. The two clubs have a special connection, also meeting in Forest's last European campaign in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the European Cup final from 1979 that connects these teams, with the groundbreaking transfer the English forward netting the decisive goal of a rather dull championship game to secure historic victory for the Forest supporters.
"Forest's famous bosses, modestly dressed amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench calmly observing the celebrations," noted the journalist. Their achievement was an extraordinary accomplishment that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from the lower league to European stage in a short period."
It's also interesting to reflect upon Malmö, who became the pioneering and only Swedish club to make the championship match under manager Houghton.
This match is a distant from that peak, closer perhaps to the previous continental meeting between Forest and Malmö in that era. Forest are full of confidence after thrashing Liverpool at Liverpool's home on Saturday, while Malmö have been inactive since early November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The smart money is on the English side tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this live coverage. The Scottish side have already been lost to a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the league rankings at the half-way stage of the league phase with exactly zero. They badly want a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a recovery for a playoff spot.
We'll keep you up to date with all the evening matches and provide the current standings from the concluded fixtures, including the Birmingham match and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
