Malmö vs Nottingham Forest, Braga vs Rangers, and Additional – UEFA Europa League Updates
Live Updates
Key Events
- Full-time: Villa 2-1 Young Boys
- Score!: Late goal from Monteiro makes it 2-1
- Game over: Celtic 3-1 Feyenoord
- Team news: Starting players for Forest vs Malmö
- Starting players: Rangers v Braga teams!
- Preamble
League Position
The initial outcomes greatly affect the Europa League table. The Glasgow side rose to 17th position and are back in the secure playoff places.
| Position | Team | P | 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 |
Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys
The English side clung on for the win and became tied on points with leaders Midtjylland at the top of the group rankings. Villa made hard work of that during the closing minutes.
Late Goal: Monteiro Scores
Young Boys earned a hope through Monteiro but had just four more minutes to score the leveler!
Celtic Secure Victory
A significant and important win for the Celtic. Although they went 1-0 down, Celtic roared back with goals from Yang Hyun-jun, the Japanese midfielder and Nygren.
Game Developments
Villa, at the same time, maintained a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at the stadium.
Malen's second goal there caused dramatic events in the visitors' section, with Swiss fans engaging with police. Physical altercations occurred and items launched at both the officers and onto the pitch, with Malen himself being hit on the head by a throwable object.
Team News: Nottingham Forest v Malmö
Nottingham Forest: The goalkeeper, Abbott, The center-back, The defender, Morato, Yates, Sangare, Dominguez, The attacker, The winger, Kalimuendo.
Malmö: Ellborg, Larsen, The center-back, Duric, Rosler, The midfielder, Johnsen, The midfielder, Bolin, The forward, Busanello.
Official: Harm Osmers (Germany)
Lineups: Rangers vs Braga
The Light Blues: The goalkeeper, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, Diomande, Raskin, The attacker, Danilo, The striker.
Braga: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, Niakate, The full-back, Zalazar, The experienced midfielder, The midfielder, Martinez, Navarro, The striker.
Official: Allard Lindhout (Netherlands)
Historical Context
The European clash and past encounters. The two clubs have a unique relationship, also facing each other in Forest's last European campaign in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the continental championship 46 years ago that entwines these two together, with the groundbreaking transfer Trevor Francis netting the decisive goal of a pretty miserable final to secure historic victory for the the English club.
"Forest's famous bosses, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench serenely viewing the mafficking," commented the writer. This represented an remarkable feat that it is hard to see being repeated – from Second Division to European stage in just three years."
Worth mentioning to pause a little on Malmö, who became the initial and final Swedish club to reach the final under English manager Bob Houghton.
Tonight's game is a very different to that peak, closer perhaps to the Uefa Cup first-round tie between Forest and Malmö in that era. Forest are full of confidence after defeating Liverpool convincingly at the famous ground on Saturday, while Malmö haven't played officially since 9 November following the end of the Swedish league season. The general expectation is on the English side tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this match tracking. The Glasgow club have already been lost to a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are last place of the competition table at the half-way stage of the league phase with exactly zero. They urgently require a victory if they are to have any hope of making a late surge for a knockout position.
Updates will continue with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the most recent results from the earlier matches, including the Birmingham match and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
