Nottingham Forest v Malmö, Braga vs Rangers, and More – Europa League News
Match Coverage
Key Events
- Final whistle: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
- Goal scored!: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)
- Game over: Feyenoord 1-3 Celtic
- Lineups announced: Nottingham Forest v Malmö teams!
- Starting players: Starting XI for Rangers vs Braga
- Introduction
Current Table
The opening scores strongly influence the Europa League table. The Glasgow side rose to 17th place and returned to the safety of knockout positions.
| Rank | Team | Matches | 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 |
Final Score: Aston Villa 2-1
Aston Villa secured for the three points and went equal on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the summit of the competition table. Villa struggled of that at the end.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
The Swiss side created a lifeline through Monteiro but were left with stoppage time to get the tying goal!
Celtic Secure Victory
A famous and valuable win for the Scottish team. Even after falling 1-0 down, Celtic responded strongly with goals from the Korean forward, the Japanese midfielder and Benjamin Nygren.
Match Updates
The Birmingham side, meanwhile, maintained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with approximately five minutes left at their home ground.
The Dutch forward's brace there sparked furious scenes in the visitors' section, with visiting fans clashing with police. Physical altercations occurred and objects thrown at both the officers and at the playing surface, with the player being caught on the head by a throwable object.
Team News: Nottingham Forest v Malmö
Nottingham Forest: Victor, The defender, Milenkovic, Murillo, Morato, Yates, The defensive midfielder, The midfielder, McAtee, The winger, Kalimuendo.
Malmö FF: The goalkeeper, Stryger Larsen, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, The midfielder, Johnsen, The midfielder, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, Busanello.
Match official: Harm Osmers (Germany)
Team News: Rangers v Braga
The Light Blues: The goalkeeper, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, Diomande, The midfielder, Gassama, The forward, The striker.
The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, The center-back, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, Joao Moutinho, Gorby, The attacker, Navarro, The striker.
Official: Allard Lindhout (Holland)
Preamble
Forest vs Malmö and historical connections. The two clubs have a unique relationship, also facing each other in Forest's previous European adventure in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the continental championship decades past that links these clubs, with the record-breaking signing Trevor Francis netting the decisive goal of a rather dull championship game to claim legendary status for the red half of Nottingham.
"The legendary management duo, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench serenely viewing the celebrations," commented the writer. This represented an outstanding achievement that it is hard to see being repeated – from the lower league to continental competition in three seasons."
It's also interesting to consider Malmö, who became the pioneering and only Scandinavian side to make the championship match under manager Houghton.
The current fixture is a far cry from that peak, closer perhaps to the previous continental meeting 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 played officially since early November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The smart money is on the Forest tonight.
Additional games on offer in this match tracking. Rangers have already been lost to a Braga this season. Rangers are last place of the competition table at the midpoint of the group stage with precisely zero points. They badly want a victory if they are to have any hope of making a comeback for a knockout position.
Coverage will persist with all the evening matches and provide the latest scores from the previous games, including the Birmingham match and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
