Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – UEFA Europa League Coverage
Match Coverage
Key Events
- Full-time: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
- Score!: Late goal from Monteiro makes it 2-1
- Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
- Team news: Starting players for Forest vs Malmö
- Team news: Starting XI for Rangers vs Braga
- Introduction
League Position
The initial outcomes greatly affect the competition standings. Celtic have moved up to the 17th spot and regained position in the protected qualification spots.
| Position | Team | Matches | 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 three points and went equal on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the summit of the group rankings. The Birmingham club had difficulty of that in the final stages.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
Young Boys gave themselves a chance through Monteiro but had just four more minutes to find an equaliser!
Celtic Secure Victory
A famous and valuable win for the Glasgow side. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from Yang, the Japanese midfielder and Benjamin Nygren.
Latest Action
The Birmingham side, concurrently, retained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at their home ground.
Malen's second goal there caused dramatic events in the opposition stands, with Young Boys supporters engaging with police. Scuffles broke out and projectiles hurled at both the police and toward the field, with the goalscorer being struck in the head by a drinking vessel.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
The Reds: Victor, Abbott, The center-back, The defender, The full-back, The midfielder, The defensive midfielder, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö FF: Ellborg, The defender, The center-back, The defender, The full-back, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, The attacker, The forward, Busanello.
Match official: Osmers (Germany)
Starting Players
The Light Blues: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, The defender, Aarons, Barron, The midfielder, Raskin, The attacker, Danilo, Chermiti.
Braga: Hornicek, Gomez, The center-back, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, Moutinho, Gorby, Martinez, The forward, Horta.
Official: The Dutch referee (Netherlands)
Preamble
Nottingham Forest v Malmö and memories of 1979. The these sides have a historical link, also competing in Forest's previous European adventure in the UEFA Cup of 1995-96, but it is the European Cup final decades past that links these clubs, with Britain's first £1m player the English forward netting the decisive goal of a pretty miserable final to claim legendary status for the red half of Nottingham.
"Forest's famous bosses, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench calmly observing the revelry," wrote the match reporter. Their achievement was an remarkable feat that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from Second Division to continental competition in just three years."
It's also interesting to consider Malmö, who became the pioneering and only Nordic team to make the championship match under British coach Houghton.
The current fixture is a very different to that pinnacle, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are full of confidence after defeating Liverpool convincingly at Liverpool's home on Saturday, while Malmö have been inactive since last month following the completion of Allsvenskan. The popular prediction is on the home team tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this match tracking. Rangers have already been beaten by a Braga this season. Rangers are last place of the league rankings at the midpoint of the group stage with exactly zero. They badly want a victory if they are to have any opportunity for a recovery for a playoff spot.
Updates will continue with all the late games and provide the most recent results from the previous games, including Aston Villa v Young Boys and Feyenoord v Celtic.
