Nottingham Forest v Malmö, Rangers v Braga, and More – Europa League News
Match Coverage
Important Updates
- Final whistle: Young Boys 1-2 Aston Villa
- Score!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Game over: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Starting XI: Forest and Malmö lineups
- Team news: Starting XI for Rangers vs Braga
- Opening notes
Current Table
The opening scores strongly influence the Europa League table. Celtic climbed to 17th place and returned to the safety of knockout positions.
| Pos | Team | Matches | Goal Difference | 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 |
Match Result: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
The English side clung on for the three points and became tied on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the summit of the league phase standings. Villa had difficulty of that at the end.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
Young Boys gave themselves a chance through Monteiro but were left with four more minutes to get the tying goal!
Glasgow Side Wins 3-1
A famous and valuable win for the Scottish team. Although they went 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from Yang, the Japanese midfielder and Nygren.
Latest Action
Aston Villa, concurrently, retained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with around five minutes left at their home ground.
Malen's second goal there triggered intense reactions in the away end, with Swiss fans clashing with police. Punches were thrown and projectiles hurled at both the police and at the playing surface, with Malen himself being struck in the head by a drinking vessel.
Team News: Nottingham Forest v Malmö
Forest: John Victor, Abbott, The center-back, Murillo, Morato, The midfielder, The defensive midfielder, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.
Malmö: Ellborg, Stryger Larsen, The center-back, Duric, Rosler, The midfielder, The midfielder, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, Busanello.
Official: Osmers (Germany)
Lineups: Rangers vs Braga
The Glasgow side: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, The midfielder, Diomande, Raskin, Gassama, Danilo, Chermiti.
The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi, The midfielder, The experienced midfielder, The midfielder, Martinez, The forward, Horta.
Match official: Lindhout (from Netherlands)
Historical Context
Nottingham Forest v Malmö and memories of 1979. The both teams have a unique relationship, also facing each other in Forest's most recent continental tour in the 1995-96 Uefa Cup, but it is the European Cup final from 1979 that connects these teams, with Britain's first £1m player Trevor Francis heading the only goal of a pretty miserable final to clinch eternal glory for the red half of Nottingham.
"Forest's famous bosses, modestly dressed amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench quietly watching the celebrations," wrote the match reporter. This represented an outstanding achievement that it is unlikely to be replicated – from Second Division to European stage in just three years."
One should note to reflect upon Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Nordic team to make the championship match under British coach Houghton.
This match is a distant from that pinnacle, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. Forest are riding high after thrashing Liverpool at the famous ground on Saturday, while Malmö have been inactive since 9 November following the conclusion of their domestic campaign. The general expectation is on the English side tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this live coverage. Rangers have already been beaten by a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are last place of the 36-team Europa League standings at the half-way stage of the initial phase with exactly zero. They desperately need a victory if they are to have any hope of making a comeback for a qualification place.
Updates will continue with all the late games and provide the latest scores from the previous games, including the Birmingham match and Feyenoord v Celtic.
