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

Current Table

The opening scores strongly influence the competition standings. Celtic climbed to 17th position and are back in the protected playoff places.

Match Result: Villa 2-1 Young Boys

The English side clung on for the three points and went equal on points with leaders Midtjylland at the top of the competition table. The Birmingham club made hard work of that in the final stages.

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

Young Boys gave themselves a hope through Monteiro but were left with stoppage time to find an equaliser!

Glasgow Side Wins 3-1

A famous and valuable win for the Scottish team. Although they went 1-0 down, Celtic fought back with goals from Yang Hyun-jun, the Japanese midfielder and the Swedish striker.

Match Updates

The Birmingham side, meanwhile, held onto a 2-0 lead over Young Boys with roughly 300 seconds left at the stadium.

The Dutch forward's brace there sparked furious scenes in the visitors' section, with visiting fans clashing with police. Punches were thrown and projectiles hurled at both the police and onto the pitch, with the goalscorer being hit on the head by a throwable object.

Team News: Nottingham Forest v Malmö

Nottingham Forest: John Victor, Abbott, The center-back, Murillo, Morato, The midfielder, Sangare, The midfielder, The attacker, Hudson-Odoi, The striker.

Malmö FF: The goalkeeper, Stryger Larsen, The center-back, Duric, Rosler, Haksabanovic, The midfielder, Skogmar, The attacker, The forward, Busanello.

Official: Harm Osmers (from Germany)

Team News: Rangers v Braga

The Glasgow side: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, The midfielder, Diomande, The midfielder, The attacker, The forward, Chermiti.

The Arsenalistas: Hornicek, Gomez, Lagerbielke, The defender, Arrey-Mbi, Zalazar, The experienced midfielder, The midfielder, Martinez, The forward, Horta.

Referee: Allard Lindhout (Netherlands)

Historical Context

Forest vs Malmö and memories of 1979. The two clubs have a historical link, 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 Britain's first £1m player Francis heading the only goal of a pretty miserable final to secure historic victory for the Forest supporters.

"Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench quietly watching the celebrations," commented the writer. Their achievement was an outstanding achievement that it is unlikely to be replicated – from Second Division to European stage in three seasons."

Worth mentioning to reflect upon Malmö, who became the initial and final Scandinavian side to make the championship match under English manager Bob Houghton.

Tonight's game is a very different to that summit, closer perhaps to the Uefa Cup first-round tie 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 early November following the completion of Allsvenskan. The popular prediction is on the Forest tonight.

Plenty of other action on offer in this clockwatch. The Scottish side have already been defeated by a Portuguese opponent this season. Rangers are rock bottom of the 36-team Europa League standings at the half-way stage of the initial phase with precisely zero points. They urgently require a victory if they are to have any chance of achieving a late surge for a knockout position.

Coverage will persist with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the most recent results from the earlier matches, including Villa vs Young Boys and Feyenoord v Celtic.