Here’s our roundup of Thursday’s action.
It’s full-time in Utrecht, where Genk won 2-0.
So here’s the table ahead of next week’s final round.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyon | 7 | 11 | 18 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 7 | 7 | 18 |
| 3 | Freiburg | 7 | 7 | 17 |
| 4 | Midtjylland | 7 | 8 | 16 |
| 5 | Braga | 7 | 6 | 16 |
| 6 | Roma | 7 | 7 | 15 |
| 7 | Ferencvaros | 7 | 5 | 15 |
| 8 | Real Betis | 7 | 5 | 14 |
| 9 | FC Porto | 7 | 4 | 14 |
| 10 | Genk | 7 | 3 | 13 |
| 11 | Red Star Belgrade | 7 | 1 | 13 |
| 12 | PAOK | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 13 | Stuttgart | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 14 | Celta Vigo | 7 | 4 | 12 |
| 15 | Bologna | 7 | 4 | 12 |
| 16 | Nottm Forest | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 17 | Plzen | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 18 | Fenerbahce | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| 19 | Panathinaikos | 7 | 2 | 11 |
| 20 | Dinamo Zagreb | 7 | -2 | 10 |
| 21 | Lille | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| 22 | Brann | 7 | -1 | 9 |
| 23 | Young Boys | 7 | -5 | 9 |
| 24 | Celtic | 7 | -4 | 8 |
| 25 | Ludogorets | 7 | -4 | 7 |
| 26 | Feyenoord | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 27 | Basel | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 28 | Red Bull Salzburg | 7 | -4 | 6 |
| 29 | FCSB | 7 | -7 | 6 |
| 30 | Go Ahead Eagles | 7 | -8 | 6 |
| 31 | Rangers | 7 | -7 | 4 |
| 32 | Sturm Graz | 7 | -7 | 4 |
| 33 | Nice | 7 | -7 | 3 |
| 34 | Utrecht | 7 | -8 | 1 |
| 35 | Malmo FF | 7 | -10 | 1 |
| 36 | Maccabi Tel-Aviv | 7 | -17 | 1 |
Sean Dyche, the Forest manager, was not happy when he spoke to TNT: “Very frustrating. One minute of madness. A game we never looked in trouble. Never dominated as much as we liked.
“We don’t have a recognised centre-forward and that can make it tricky. The reaction was nowhere good enough for a minute or so. We lost the game to a really poor goal.”
“You see it happen, they get a lift, the crowd go mad. We knock off for a minute, go chasing the ball, they get lucky with a bobble into the box and that can happen. Then a unfortunate situation for Yatesy [Ryan Yates]. Very frustrated."”I think the tempo of the game - we got sucked into playing slow. Didn’t really affect the backline as many times as we hoped. We got the penalty, and it is one of those games if you seal that.”
Goal! Utrecht 0-2 Genk (Daan Heymans Pen 83)
Danny Rohl, the Rangers manager, spoke to TNT: “Seven wins in a row is fantastic. We have to be hungry for more, especially looking forward to Sunday. We have to be on the front foot again.
“We gave some moments to the opponent, which I don’t like. In general there’s been a lot of clean sheets since I’ve been here and that’s a good feeling.”
Here’s Ben Fisher’s report from Braga.
Mohamed Diomande, the Rangers goalscorer, spoke to TNT: “It’s been a while since I scored so there was emotion. [Danny Rohl]’s very positive and pushing us very hard. We’re learning form him every day.
“We are in a good position now, we’re going to go game by game. Hopefully on Sunday [v Dundee] we get the three points.”
Here’s the mega table. Rangers did Celtic a favour, Villa are through, while Forest must play Utrecht next week. This is a live table, and Genk and Utrecht’s status may change because of that late kick-off.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyon | 7 | 11 | 18 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 7 | 7 | 18 |
| 3 | Freiburg | 7 | 7 | 17 |
| 4 | Midtjylland | 7 | 8 | 16 |
| 5 | Braga | 7 | 6 | 16 |
| 6 | Roma | 7 | 7 | 15 |
| 7 | Ferencvaros | 7 | 5 | 15 |
| 8 | Real Betis | 7 | 5 | 14 |
| 9 | FC Porto | 7 | 4 | 14 |
| 10 | Red Star Belgrade | 7 | 1 | 13 |
| 11 | PAOK | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 12 | Stuttgart | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 13 | Celta Vigo | 7 | 4 | 12 |
| 14 | Bologna | 7 | 4 | 12 |
| 15 | Nottm Forest | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 16 | Plzen | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 17 | Fenerbahce | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| 18 | Panathinaikos | 7 | 2 | 11 |
| 19 | Genk | 7 | 1 | 11 |
| 20 | Dinamo Zagreb | 7 | -2 | 10 |
| 21 | Lille | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| 22 | Brann | 7 | -1 | 9 |
| 23 | Young Boys | 7 | -5 | 9 |
| 24 | Celtic | 7 | -4 | 8 |
| 25 | Ludogorets | 7 | -4 | 7 |
| 26 | Feyenoord | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 27 | Basel | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 28 | Red Bull Salzburg | 7 | -4 | 6 |
| 29 | FCSB | 7 | -7 | 6 |
| 30 | Go Ahead Eagles | 7 | -8 | 6 |
| 31 | Rangers | 7 | -7 | 4 |
| 32 | Sturm Graz | 7 | -7 | 4 |
| 33 | Nice | 7 | -7 | 3 |
| 34 | Utrecht | 7 | -6 | 2 |
| 35 | Malmo FF | 7 | -10 | 1 |
| 36 | Maccabi Tel-Aviv | 7 | -17 | 1 |
The scores from the earlier matches
Bologna 2-2 Celtic
Brann 3-3 Midtjylland
Fenerbahce 0-1 Aston Villa
Feyenoord 3-0 Sturm Graz
Freiburg 1-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Malmo 0-1 Red Star Belgrade
PAOK 2-0 Real Betis
Viktoria 1-1 Porto
Young Boys 0-1 Lyon
Kari Tulinius gets in touch: “Stuttgart’s forwards left their shooting boots at home. They had a fair number of chances, but the efforts were always woeful. Who was wearing the right footwear was Paulo Dybala. His arsenal of tricks, turns and unexpected passes befuddled his opponents, and eventually he received the ball in the penalty box, turned and in the same movement laid the ball on a plate for Pisilli, who didn’t spurn the gift.”
Full-time scores in the Europa League
Celta Vigo 2-1 Lille
Dinamo Zagreb 4-1 Steau
Ferencvaros 1-1 Panathinaikos
Nice 3-1 Go Ahead Eagles
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
Red Bull Salzburg 3-1 Basel
Roma 2-0 Stuttgart
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Utrecht 0-0 Genk (L)
Updated
Goal! Dinamo Zagreb 4-1 FCSB (Sandro Kulenovic 90)
Full-time: Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Pau Victor almost makes it two in the final seconds, only for Hudson-Odoi to step in. Anderson’s red card compounds a night of misery for Forest. They have been poor, and missed a penalty, and conceded a dreadful goal. The fans who made the long, expensive trip are not happy. Huge boos. Braga were, in truth, good for their win.
Red card for Forest's Elliot Anderson!
It looks like dissent, and confusion reigns. He was nowhere near the ball.
Updated
Goal! Celta Vigo 2-1 Lille (Olivier Giroud 86)
Full-time: Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
A first win of the campaign for Rangers, a deserved win, Diomande’s goal getting the job done, and the Rohl revival continues.
Goal! Roma 2-0 Stuttgart (Niccolo Pisilli 90)
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Forest want another penalty, as Gibbs-White goes down under Anderson’s ball. Joao Moutinho slides in and then pulls his legs back instead of making the impact. Gibbs-White is booked, and that seems a bit harsh. Six minutes added on here.
Updated
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
Jack Butland makes another save, this time from Vidal, and then flaps at the resultant corner. The away team are pushing, and throw on Ivanov for what will be three minutes of time added on.
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
A late scare for Rangers as Son, the Bulgarian team’s Spanish player – Francisco Javier Hidalgo Gómez to his mum – slides the ball wide. There’s a penalty check, too. Waved away. Rangers have been nervous as the 90 closes out.
Goal! Ferencvaros 1-1 Panathinaikos (Anass Zaroury 86)
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Pau Victor, who has been lively, climbs above Nikola Milenkovic, who has been the opposite of lively, to head just wide. Forest go up the other end, and the unfortunate Yates’ last action is to nod over. He’s replaced by Sangare for a corner. Forest’s first, which tells a real story.
Half-time score: Utrecht 0-0 Genk
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
More Dyche bellowing as a long ball finds Gibbs-White as a lone forward; Braga are pushing them back and back. It’s been an impressive performance from the cliff-side club. No wonder they are in the top eight. Carlos Vicens, a former Guardiola adjutant, is clearly a capable coach.
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
Findlay Curtis, the teenager, goes close. There’s been talk this week he is going on loan to Kilmarnock.
Goal! Celta Vigo 2-0 Lille (Carl Starfelt 69)
Updated
Goal! Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 (Dion Beljo 71)
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
The Forest fans who made the long journey are making their feelings clear. Forest have paid for a lack of ambition. Stat: Braga haven’t had a shot on target yet.
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
Rangers could have finished it, only for Mirovski to be over-deliberate when Diomande sets him up, and the chance falls to Raskin, who is hurried when the ball should have been his far quicker.
Goal! Nice 3-1 Go Ahead Eagles (Finn Stokkers 68)
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Pau Victor, the Braga sub, once of Barcelona, cracks the bar. Forest living on their nerves. Sean Dyche is eyeing a triple sub but the ball refuses to go dead. Off go McAtee, Luiz and Aina, and on come Anderson, Hudson-Odoi and Neco Williams. That looks like an upgrade, but is too late?
Updated
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
Mikey Moore goes into the book, his challenge one of frustration after he made a mess of a decent chance. It’s not exactly packed out at Ibrox.
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Sean Dyche can be heard, his trademark bellow filling the sky, and that inspires Ola Aina to blast a shot off the crossbar. On comes Joao Moutinho for Braga, the Porto and Wolves legend, such a tidy player, and now 39, he positions himself deep in front of the defence.
Goal! Nice 3-0 Go Ahead Eagles (Tiago Gouveia 59)
Goal! Ferencvaros 1-0 Panathinaikos (Bamidele Yusuf Pen 62)
Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Forest have improved, at least looking interested. McAtee’s run sets up Gibbs-White but his shot is again not good enough.
David Howell gets in touch on that Braga stadium: “It was built into a former quarry, and apparently 1.5m cubic metres of granite had to be cleared (some of which was crushed and reused for the stands), so this broadcast on TNT Sports is from a venue that needed lots of TNT to be prepared for sports.
“The architect, Eduardo Souto de Moura (who went on to win the Pritzker Prize, apparently the Nobel of architecture, in part because of this stadium), was once asked why there were only two stands. His response? “According to me, football is watched (moves hand from side to side) like this!””
Great stuff, David
Goal! Red Bull Salzburg 3-1 Basel (Jeremy Agbonifo 56)
Goal! Braga 1-0 Nottingham Forest (Yates, 54)
Braga go immediately on the attack, Horta breezes past Milenkovic and Yates slides in, trying to rescue matters, and can’t stop the ball going behind the line. Hornicek is seen leading the celebrations. Sean Dyche is not at all happy.
Updated
Gibbs-White has a penalty saved!
Real lengthy delay on this kick. Loads of games being played here, and Gibbs-White hits it low and too slow, and Hornicek is equal to the task.
Updated
Penalty to Nottingham Forest!
James McAtee, set up by Aina and Gibbs-White, is knocked over by Martinez. It looks soft but it seems unlikely to be overturned. Or does it? Braga’s protestations comes to nothing.
Updated
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Seems like Braga have picked on Savona as a weakness, and that leads to a chance for Ricardo Horta, who can’t quite get over the ball.
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
The early action sees Diomande, the scorer, take a knock, and limping around. Nico Raskin tells his teammate to crack on, and from the free-kick, Thelo Aasgaard goes close. Not long after that, Raskin tries an effort from distance.
So, aside from in Utrecht, we are set to get back underway in the second halves across Europe;
Some news from Nice, via our friends at Get French Football News: “The game has been overshadowed by events in the stands as the home fans charged at the away section. The Nice fans have since retreated with riot police now located within the away end.”
Kari Tulinius with a vital update: “Stuttgart have been dominant without being particularly dangerous, and now Roma have scored. Matias Soule slid a ball into the run of Niccolo Pisilli, who was allowed to run into the 18-yard box. Nubel got a hand to the shot, but he could only divert it into the crossbar. The German side looked rattled after that, but they held on until the ref whistled for half time.”
Here’s our roundup from the earlier kick-offs in the Europa League.
Utrecht v Genk wasn’t in that list because it has only just kicked off. Police have moved in to clear out the Genk fans from the away end, and there’s been clashes.
Half-time scores in the 8pm kick-offs
Celta Vigo 1-0 Lille
Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 Steau
Ferencvaros 0-0 Panathinaikos
Nice 2-0 Go Ahead Eagles
Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
Red Bull Salzburg 3-0 Basel
Roma 1-0 Stuttgart
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Half-time: Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
The large Forest contingent boos their team for a lack of adventure. Dyche-ball in action, you might say. The best chance of a half that will be remembered for rain rather than football fell to Braga’s Martinez.
Half-time: Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets
Nice run by Mikey Moore down the flanks, and the danger is only just closed off. Rangers look a different team, and are good for their lead after that Diomande goal. It s took a fine Jack Butland save to keep the scores level before that.
Goal! Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 FCSB (Daniel Birligea 42)
Goal! Nice 2-0 Go Ahead Eagles (Tiago Gouveia 41)
Goal! Roma 1-0 Stuttgart (Niccolo Pisilli 40)
Updated
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Close! Gabri Martinez nods wide for Braga, the best chance of the game, after Savona switched off.
Via TNT reporter Danny Jamieson: “Fairly sparse crowd here in Braga. Expecting around 12,500 in the stadium. Officially 2,100 #NFFC fans but there’s plenty who have bought Braga memberships to buy tickets in the home end too! #UEL.”
Goal! Red Bull Salzburg 3-0 Basel (Frans Kratzig 35)
Goal! Rangers 1-0 Ludogorets (Diomande, 33)
A pinball session follows a Rangers corner and the ball drops to Diomande who hits it early and true, after nice work in keeping the ball alive from Chermiti.
Updated
Red card! Hugo Sotelo of Celta Vigo has been sent off for serious foul play against Lille.
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
In rainy Portugal, the big news is that Matz Sels has been rebuked by officials for overuse of his towel. Yes, not much else happening.
Rangers 0-0 Ludogorets
Per-Mathias Høgmo, the visiting manager, is not happy with his team. With the point they are on at the moment, his team will edge Celtic into 25th place. Is there a pact in place? Possibly not, as vital coefficient points are required for Scotland.
Tim Smith gets in touch: “I hope the Forest fans are enjoying the view, if not the weather. Amazing architecture for a venue with only two viewing sides. I saw the Netherlands (when they were good) vs. Latvia (who were, well, Latvia) in Euro 2004 in the stadium. Good times, although it was also June.”
They drew with Germany at that Euros. The legend Māris Verpakovskis. Marian Pahars wasn’t fit, from what I recall.
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Forest are suffering for a lack of a centre forward, with Igor Jesus not in the starting team. Braga haven’t been very ambitious.
Goal! Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 FCSB (Dion Beljo 11)
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Ryan Yates has an effort, the follow up after Ndoye is laid up by James McAtee, who has been very quiet until that moment.
Peter Oh gets in touch: “I sure hope the club from the French Riviera can get results from their last group stage matches because you never want to see the Nice guys finishing last.”
Rangers 0-0 Ludogorets
Rangers have been much the better team in Glasgow, looking so much more confident than under Russell Martin. And coherent, too. Chermiti has been lively.
Goal! Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 Basel (Kerim Alajbegovic 12)
Goal! Nice 1-0 Go Ahead Eagles (Charles Vanhoutte 10)
Goal! Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 FCSB (Mounsef Bakrar 7)
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Morgan Gibbs-White sets off on a trademark run and is pulled down by Braga’s Niakate. That sets up a free-kick chance, and Gibbs-White takes it on himself and forces a fine save from Hornicek, the Braga keeper.
News from the Netherlands, where Utrecht v Genk has been delayed due to a safety situation at the away end. Many of the Belgian fans haven’t got into the stadium yet.
Braga 0-0 Nottingham Forest
Forest fans are outnumbering the home fans in Braga. Great turnout, though hopes of winter sun haven’t been met. Hope they packed raincoats.
Goal! Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 Basel (Kerim Alajbegovic 4)
Goal! Celta Vigo 1-0 Lille (Williot Swedberg 1)
Rangers 0-0 Ludogorets
An early chance for the Gers, as a skidding cross comes in for Youssef Chermiti but he took is skidding along as it comes in.
Some housekeeping from the early Europa League games: Lyon, Aston Villa and Freiburg are assured of a top eight position. Now, away we go in the later matches.
The weather in Braga looks biblical. A win for Forest would take them into seventh in the table. Not that the weather in Glasgow looks much better. Is the weather good anywhere?
A reminder of the later 8pm kick-offs.
Celta Vigo v Lille
Dinamo Zagreb v Steau
Ferencvaros v Panathinaikos
Nice v Go Ahead Eagles
Rangers v Ludogorets
Red Bull Salzburg v Basel
Roma v Stuttgart
Braga v Nottingham Forest
Utrecht v Genk
For Forest, Sean Dyche has made seven changes to his starting XI from Saturday’s draw with Arsenal, with Matz Sels, Nikola Milenkovic, Ola Aina and Morgan Gibbs-White the only players to keep their places.
To the 8pms, Rangers seek a seventh win in succession, and Danny Rohl has shuffled his pack from playing Annan in the Scottish Cup. Out go: Kelly, Nsiala, Rothwell, Dowell, Curtis, Danilo and Miovski and in come: Butland, Fernandez, Raskin, Diomande, Aasgaard, Moore and Chermiti.
The table – as it stands after those early games.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyon | 7 | 11 | 18 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 7 | 7 | 18 |
| 3 | Freiburg | 7 | 7 | 17 |
| 4 | Midtjylland | 7 | 8 | 16 |
| 5 | Ferencvaros | 6 | 5 | 14 |
| 6 | Real Betis | 7 | 5 | 14 |
| 7 | FC Porto | 7 | 4 | 14 |
| 8 | Braga | 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 9 | Red Star Belgrade | 7 | 1 | 13 |
| 10 | Stuttgart | 6 | 7 | 12 |
| 11 | PAOK | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 12 | Roma | 6 | 5 | 12 |
| 13 | Bologna | 7 | 4 | 12 |
| 14 | Nottm Forest | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 15 | Plzen | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 16 | Fenerbahce | 7 | 3 | 11 |
| 17 | Panathinaikos | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| 18 | Genk | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 19 | Celta Vigo | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 20 | Lille | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 21 | Brann | 7 | -1 | 9 |
| 22 | Young Boys | 7 | -5 | 9 |
| 23 | Celtic | 7 | -4 | 8 |
| 24 | Ludogorets | 6 | -3 | 7 |
| 25 | Dinamo Zagreb | 6 | -5 | 7 |
| 26 | Basel | 6 | -1 | 6 |
| 27 | Feyenoord | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 28 | FCSB | 6 | -4 | 6 |
| 29 | Go Ahead Eagles | 6 | -6 | 6 |
| 30 | Sturm Graz | 7 | -7 | 4 |
| 31 | Red Bull Salzburg | 6 | -6 | 3 |
| 32 | Utrecht | 6 | -6 | 1 |
| 33 | Rangers | 6 | -8 | 1 |
| 34 | Malmo FF | 7 | -10 | 1 |
| 35 | Maccabi Tel-Aviv | 7 | -17 | 1 |
| 36 | Nice | 6 | -9 | 0 |
Full-time scores in the early games
Bologna 2-2 Celtic
Brann 3-3 Midtjylland
Fenerbahce 0-1 Aston Villa
Feyenoord 3-0 Sturm Graz
Freiburg 1-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Malmo 0-1 Red Star Belgrade
PAOK 2-0 Real Betis
Viktoria 1-1 Porto (L)
Young Boys 0-1 Lyon
Full-time: Fenerbahce 0-1 Aston Villa
Villa go through, and will not need the extra play-off round. Unai Emery’s mastery in this competition continues. Villa in the top eight whatever happens next week.
Full-time: Bologna 2-2 Celtic
The rearguard effort pays off, and Celtic grab a vital point, and even if they paid the price for being down to ten men, they have hope going into the final match. Next week, they play Utrecht at Parkhead.
Real rearguard effort in Italy from Celtic, with Liam Scales throwing himself at everything. Five minutes added on. Martin O’Neill wants the win, and sends up his players for a long throw. Celtic need a win. As it stands, they are 23rd, with other teams to play later tonight.
The player offside in that disallowed Fenerbahce goal was Jhon Duran, a familiar face to Aston Villa fans, cashed out to Saudi Arabian football last January but loaned to Turkey.
…But the Fenerbahce goal has been disallowed, Kerem Aktürkoğlu was offside as he pounced on a rebound.
Fenerbahce have equalised against Aston Villa, with Kerem Aktürkoğlu getting it. It’s 1-1 in Turkey.
It’s now 2-2 in Bologna, the Englishman Jonathan Rowe has got the goal, cutting across the Celtic defence to score.
Updated
Aston Villa have had a goal disallowed, with Morgan Rogers netting after Jadon Sancho had been offside. Matty Cash has hit a post but Fenerbahce are creating chances, too.
Braga v Nottingham Forest teams
Braga: Hornicek, Lagerbielke, Niakate, Arrey-Mbi, Gomez, Grillitsch, Gorby, Martinez, Rodrigues, Ricardo Horta, Navarro. Subs: Tiago Sa, Bellarouch, Lelo, Carvalho, Joao Moutinho, Paulo Oliveira, Gabriel Moscardo, Victor, Dorgeles, da Rocha,
Aragao, Vidigal.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Savona, Milenkovic, Morato, Aina, Bakwa, Yates, Douglas Luiz, McAtee, Ndoye, Gibbs-White. Subs: Gunn, Willows, Williams, Sangare, Hudson-Odoi, Anderson, Dominguez, Abbott, Whitehall, Thompson, Sinclair, Hammond.
Referee: Igor Pajac (Croatia)
Bologna have a goal, one that’s been coming, Thijs Dallinga nodding in beyond Kasper Schmeichel in the 58th minute, and that may mean a long 30 minutes for 10-man Celtic. Lewis Ferguson, the Scotland midfielder, is pulling some strings.
Rangers v Ludogorets teams
Rangers: Butland, Aarons, Djiga, Fernandez, Meghoma, Raskin, Diomande, Gassama, Aasgaard, Moore, Chermiti. Subs: Kelly, Wright, Tavernier, Rothwell, Antman, Miovski, Adamson, Curtis, Stewart, Danilo, Gentles.
Ludogorets: Bonmann, Son, Dinis Almeida, Verdon, Nedyalkov, Pedro Naressi, Duarte, Stanic, Caio Vidal, Bile, Erick Marcus. Subs: Padt, Hristov, Andersson, Machado, Chochev, Kaloc, Tekpetey, Shishkov, Nachmias, Penev, Stanislav Ivanov.
Referee: Manfredas Lukjancukas (Lithuania)
Aston Villa lead in Turkey after a Jadon Sancho goal, his first ever for the club, while Celtic lead 2-0 in Italy despite having Reo Hatate being red-carded. He had scored their early goal, before Auston Trusty got the second.
Updated
The later games
Celta Vigo v Lille
Dinamo Zagreb v Steau
Ferencvaros v Panathinaikos
Nice v Go Ahead Eagles
Rangers v Ludogorets
Red Bull Salzburg v Basel
Roma v Stuttgart
Braga v Nottingham Forest
Utrecht v Genk
Half-time scores in the early matches
Bologna 0-2 Celtic
Brann 1-2 Midtjylland
Fenerbahce 0-1 Aston Villa
Freiburg 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Malmo 0-1 Red Star Belgrade
PAOK 0-0 Real Betis
Viktoria 1-0 Porto
Young Boys 0-1 Lyon
Preamble
Good evening, and it’s the Thursday club. Nottingham Forest have chance to nail down their hopes of making the knockout rounds, while Rangers need to win their last two matches to have any hope whatsoever of rescuing a grim campaign; it’s unlikely they will able to make it but perhaps pride can restored. We’ll also start with the latest from the earlier kick-offs, with Aston Villa and Celtic in action.
And full coverage of the 8pm kick-offs across Europe. Join me.
