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

League Position

The opening scores have significant impact on the Europa League table. Celtic have moved up to 17th place and are back in the safety of qualification spots.

Full-time: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys

Villa managed to hold on for the three points and moved level on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the top of the league phase standings. The English side made hard work of that at the end.

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

Young Boys gave themselves a lifeline through Monteiro but only have four more minutes to get the tying goal!

Glasgow Side Wins 3-1

A memorable and crucial win for the Scottish team. Although they went 1-0 down, Celtic fought back with goals from Yang, Hatate and the Swedish striker.

Match Updates

Aston Villa, at the same time, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with around five minutes left at the stadium.

Malen's second goal there caused dramatic events in the visitors' section, with visiting fans clashing with police. Punches were thrown and objects thrown at both the police and onto the pitch, with Malen himself being struck in the head by a throwable object.

Lineups: Forest vs Malmö

Forest: Victor, Abbott, Milenkovic, The defender, The full-back, Yates, The defensive midfielder, The midfielder, McAtee, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo.

Malmö: Ellborg, Larsen, Jansson, The defender, The full-back, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, The midfielder, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, Busanello.

Match official: The German referee (from Germany)

Team News: Rangers v Braga

The Glasgow side: Butland, Tavernier, The center-back, The defender, Aarons, The midfielder, The midfielder, Raskin, Gassama, Danilo, Chermiti.

The Arsenalistas: The goalkeeper, Gomez, Lagerbielke, Niakate, The full-back, The midfielder, Moutinho, The midfielder, Martinez, The forward, Ricardo Horta.

Official: Allard Lindhout (Holland)

Historical Context

Nottingham Forest v Malmö and historical connections. The both teams have a special connection, also competing in Forest's last European campaign in the 1995-96 Uefa Cup, but it is the continental championship from 1979 that connects these teams, with Britain's first £1m player Trevor Francis netting the decisive goal of a pretty miserable final to claim legendary status for the the English club.

"Forest's famous bosses, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the festivities and cheers, stood for a moment on a bench serenely viewing the celebrations," commented the writer. Their achievement was an outstanding achievement that it is hard to see being repeated – from the lower league to continental competition in a short period."

It's also interesting to pause a little on Malmö, who became the initial and final Swedish club to reach the final under British coach Houghton.

Tonight's game is a distant from that summit, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in 1995-96. Forest are absolutely buzzing after thrashing Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, while Malmö have been inactive since early November following the conclusion of their domestic campaign. The general expectation is on the English side tonight.

Numerous other matches on offer in this match tracking. Rangers have already been beaten by a Braga this season. Rangers are last place of the 36-team Europa League standings at the midpoint of the initial phase with exactly zero. They desperately need a victory if they are to have any hope of making a late surge for a qualification place.

Coverage will persist with all the evening matches and provide the current standings from the earlier matches, including the Birmingham match and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.