Forest vs Malmö, Braga vs Rangers, and More – Europa League News

Current Table

The opening scores strongly influence the competition standings. Celtic have moved up to 17th position and returned to the safety of qualification spots.

Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys

Villa managed to hold on for the victory and became tied on points with front-runners Midtjylland at the top of the league phase standings. Villa had difficulty of that in the final stages.

GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys (Joël Monteiro 90+1)

The Swiss side created a hope through Monteiro but had just four more minutes to score the leveler!

Celtic Secure Victory

A significant and important win for the Scottish team. Even after falling 1-0 down, Celtic roared back with goals from Yang, Hatate and Nygren.

Game Developments

Aston Villa, concurrently, maintained 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 visitors' section, with visiting fans engaging with police. Scuffles broke out and projectiles hurled at both the police and toward the field, with Malen himself being struck in the head by a throwable object.

Team News: Nottingham Forest v Malmö

Forest: Victor, The defender, The center-back, Murillo, Morato, Yates, Sangare, Dominguez, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.

Malmö FF: Ellborg, Stryger Larsen, The center-back, Duric, Rosler, The midfielder, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, The striker.

Referee: Osmers (German)

Starting Players

The Glasgow side: The goalkeeper, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, Diomande, Raskin, Gassama, The forward, Chermiti.

Braga: Hornicek, The defender, The center-back, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, The midfielder, The experienced midfielder, Gorby, The attacker, Navarro, Horta.

Official: The Dutch referee (from Netherlands)

Match Background

The European clash and memories of 1979. The these sides have a unique relationship, also meeting in Forest's previous European adventure in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the European Cup final from 1979 that entwines these two together, with Britain's first £1m player the English forward netting the decisive goal of a rather dull championship game to claim legendary status for the the English club.

"Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench serenely viewing the revelry," noted the journalist. Theirs has been an remarkable feat that it is hard to see being repeated – from Second Division to continental competition in a short period."

Worth mentioning to reflect upon Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last Nordic team to make the championship match under manager Houghton.

This match is a far cry from that pinnacle, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter 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 early November following the conclusion of their domestic campaign. The smart money is on the Forest tonight.

Additional games on offer in this match tracking. The Glasgow club have already been defeated by a European rival this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the competition table at the half-way stage of the initial phase with exactly zero. They badly want a victory if they are to have any opportunity for a recovery for a qualification place.

Updates will continue with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the latest scores from the earlier matches, including the Birmingham match and Feyenoord v Celtic.