The opening scores strongly influence the Europa League table. Celtic have moved up to 17th place and are back in the secure playoff places.
| Position | Team | Played | 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 |
Villa managed to hold on for the three points and moved level on points with table-toppers Midtjylland at the peak of the group rankings. Villa had difficulty of that in the final stages.
The Swiss side created a hope through Monteiro but had just stoppage time to score the leveler!
A famous and valuable win for the Celtic. Although they went 1-0 down, Celtic roared back with goals from Yang Hyun-jun, the Japanese midfielder and Nygren.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with around five minutes left at the stadium.
Malen's double there caused dramatic events in the away end, with Young Boys supporters confronting police. Physical altercations occurred and items launched at both the police and at the playing surface, with the goalscorer being caught on the head by a plastic cup.
Forest: John Victor, Abbott, The center-back, Murillo, The full-back, The midfielder, The defensive midfielder, Dominguez, The attacker, The winger, Kalimuendo.
Malmö FF: Ellborg, Larsen, Jansson, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, Johnsen, Skogmar, Bolin, Gudjohnsen, The striker.
Match official: The German referee (Germany)
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, The defender, Aarons, The midfielder, The midfielder, Raskin, The attacker, The forward, Chermiti.
Braga: Hornicek, Gomez, The center-back, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, The experienced midfielder, Gorby, Martinez, Navarro, The striker.
Official: Lindhout (from Netherlands)
The European clash and past encounters. The both teams have a special connection, also facing each other in Forest's last European campaign in the mid-90s European competition, but it is the European Cup final from 1979 that connects these teams, with the groundbreaking transfer Trevor Francis scoring the winner of a rather dull championship game to secure historic victory for the red half of Nottingham.
"The legendary management duo, unassuming and low-key amid all the excitement and joy, stood for a moment on a bench quietly watching the celebrations," noted the journalist. This represented an outstanding achievement that it is difficult to imagine happening again – from the lower league to European stage in three seasons."
One should note to consider Malmö, who became the initial and final Scandinavian side to advance to the ultimate game under English manager Bob Houghton.
The current fixture is a distant from that summit, closer perhaps to the earlier European encounter between Forest and Malmö in the mid-nineties. 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 completion of Allsvenskan. The general expectation is on the Forest tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this match tracking. Rangers have already been defeated by a European rival this season. Rangers are at the foot of the competition table at the half-way stage of the league phase with no points whatsoever. They urgently require a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a late surge for a qualification place.
Coverage will persist with all the evening matches and provide the latest scores from the concluded fixtures, including the Birmingham match and Rotterdam vs Glasgow.
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