Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Rangers v Braga, and Additional – Europa League Updates
Live Updates
Major Moments
- Match ended: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Goal scored!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Match concluded: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
- Starting XI: Nottingham Forest v Malmö teams!
- Starting players: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Opening notes
League Position
The opening scores have significant impact on the league rankings. Celtic climbed to 17th place and are back in the protected playoff places.
| Position | Team | Played | Goal Difference | 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 |
Match Result: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
The English side clung on for the victory and moved level on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the top of the group rankings. Villa struggled of that in the final stages.
90+1: Monteiro Pulls One Back
Young Boys earned a hope through Monteiro but were left with stoppage time to score the leveler!
Full-time: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
A memorable and crucial win for the Scottish team. Despite going 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from Yang, Reo Hatate and Nygren.
Game Developments
The Birmingham side, at the same time, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with approximately five minutes left at their home ground.
The Dutch forward's brace there caused dramatic events in the away end, with visiting fans engaging with police. Physical altercations occurred and objects thrown at both the police and at the playing surface, with the goalscorer being caught on the head by a throwable object.
Lineups: Forest vs Malmö
Forest: Victor, Abbott, Milenkovic, The defender, The full-back, Yates, Sangare, The midfielder, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö: The goalkeeper, Larsen, Jansson, The defender, The full-back, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, The striker.
Match official: The German referee (German)
Team News: Rangers v Braga
The Light Blues: The goalkeeper, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, The midfielder, Raskin, The attacker, Danilo, Chermiti.
The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, The defender, The full-back, The midfielder, Moutinho, Gorby, Martinez, The forward, Ricardo Horta.
Referee: Allard Lindhout (from Netherlands)
Preamble
Nottingham Forest v Malmö and memories of 1979. The two clubs have a historical link, also meeting in Forest's most recent continental tour in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the European Cup final from 1979 that entwines these two together, with the record-breaking signing the English forward scoring the winner of a pretty miserable final 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 quietly watching the mafficking," noted the journalist. Their achievement was an extraordinary accomplishment that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from second tier to continental competition in a short period."
It's also interesting to consider Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Nordic team to reach the final under manager Houghton.
Tonight's game is a very different to that summit, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are riding high after beating Liverpool 3-0 at Liverpool's home on Saturday, while Malmö haven't kicked a competitive ball since early November following the end of the Swedish league season. The smart money is on the home team tonight.
Numerous other matches on offer in this match tracking. The Scottish side have already been beaten by a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are last place of the league rankings at the midpoint of the league phase with no points whatsoever. They urgently require a victory if they are to have any opportunity for a late surge for a qualification place.
Coverage will persist with all the late games and provide the current standings from the earlier matches, including the Birmingham match and Feyenoord v Celtic.
