Key events
Lyon 1-1 PAOK (Himbert 33)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0-1 Bologna 1 (Rowe 35)
Ollie Watkins goes off injured for Aston Villa. Looks like he’s tweaked something as he stretched for a ball in front of him.
Goal: Aston Villa 0-1 Salzburg (Konate 33)
What is it with all this playing out from the back nonsense? Tyrone Mings gets caught in possession near the Aston Villa byline. Karim Konate then tucks a shot towards the unguarded net at the far post.
Victor Lindelof chases back to try and clear but knocks it into his own net. Was it on target? I fancy that is an own-goal. And easy to say from here, but Lindelof could have left it to roll out for a goal kick, I think.
And another!
Real Betis 2-0 Feyenoord (Ezzalzouli 32)
Antony dinks in a lovely curling cross, that only needs the merest of touches off Ezzalzouli’s forehead to nestle in the far corner of the net. Lovely goal.
Goal: Porto 1-1 Rangers (Rodrigo Mora 27)
Porto swarm forward in numbers and the Rangers defence looks all over the gaff. Mora cushions a square ball from the right and tucks the ball home. Looks like a lively game there: A brilliant last-ditch tackle by Emmanuel Fernandez saves what looks a certain goal!
It’s a good, old-fashioned tackle that takes a bit of the man and there’s a hint of a penalty check, but the referee waves play on.
The live table is here. Forest are 11th as it stands.
PAOK lead Lyon 1-0 thanks to a goal by Georgios Giakoumakis on 20min, so Villa are top.
Celtic are 20th, comfortably making it into the knockouts, albeit in the lower, unseeded section of the playoff places.
Other, common-or garden goals:
Lyon 0 PAOK 1 (Georgios Giakoumakis 20)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0 Bologna 1 (Riccardo Orsolini 19)
FCSB 0 Fenerbahce 1 (Ismail Yuksek 18)
Forest 2-0 Ferencvaros (Jesus 22)
The visitors are caught out again trying to play around at or near the back. Yates dives in and wins it, Igor Jesus dances to the edge of the box and hits a low shot that deflects into the net at the far post.
Goal: Celtic 3-0 Utrecht (Engels pen 19)
Celtic needed to win. Celtic are going to win.
Antony has Betis ahead at Feyenoord with a lovely shot from the edge.
Goal: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Ferencvaros (Bence Otvos OG 17)
Ferencvaros get caught trying to play out from the back. James McAtee lays the ball off to Ryan Yates. Yates fires a good, direct cross to the far post. Bence Otvos turns the ball into his own net.
Looks like Celtic may have a penalty for “handball”.
And they do! But there’s a goal at Forest …
Gianluca Mancini is sent off for Roma at Panathinaikos after 15min. The seventh red card of his career, apparently.
“Stuttgart scored two very simple goals in rapid succession,” writes the friend of the live blog, Kári Tulinius. “Lorenz Assignon crossed low from the left to Denis Undav, who was unmarked in the box and finished smartly. The latter then turned provider by putting Ermedin Demirovic through, who didn’t miss. And even though both goals came within just a few minutes of the start, the goals felt like they’d been coming. So far it’s been men versus, well, Young Boys.”
Like it, thanks Kári.
Ferencvaros hit the woodwork at Forest. A fine glancing near-post header by Kristoffer Zachariassen cannons off the post.
Goal: Celtic 2-0 Utrecht (Viergever OG 10)
A defensive horror show from Utrecht! Nygren nabs an errant pass from the keeper and crosses instantly. Nick Viergever turns the ball into his own net.
Goal: Porto 0-1 Rangers (Gassama 6)
It’s a goal glut! But then it was always going to be. Rangers lead thanks to a smart far-post header from Djeidi Gassama.
Stuttgart 2-0 Young Boys: Deniz Undav and then Ermedin Demirovic!
Goal: Celtic 1-0 Utrecht (Nygren 6)
Kieran Tierney squares low for Celtic after a corner. Benjamin Nygren taps in from close range and Martin O’Neill’s side lead early doors.
Malmo in front at Genk through Taha Ali.
Huge chance for Villa! Ollie Watkins smacks a shot from the edge. Alexander Schlager saves, but spills the ball in front of him. Harvey Elliott follows in and taps the ball past the goalie, and it bizarrely bounces off his boots and out! An inadvertant and very fortunate save. “A scorpion save,” is Smith’s handy phrase on TNT Sports.
First half kick-off!
Allez! Here we go! Let battle commence!
“The biggest shock so far is Harvey Elliott’s luscious locks gracing the turf at Villa Park,” emails Wil. “So many fans have wanted to see more of him and less of the much-maligned Evann Guessand – but none of us have the faintest idea of what is going on here.”
SORRY it’s five changes for Forest, not four. Ryan Yates is the other player on the teamsheet tonight who didn’t start at Fortress Gtech.
“We want the good feeling of winning games,” says the Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche. … it’s getting back to performance levels.
“Some of those players are going out there tonight and giving me a marker, about their performance levels, that they are ready to go.
“We’ve been navigating that [the fixture pileup] and I think we’ve done pretty well …
“It’s that feel-good factor. We want to win … but we want to keep that group mentality going forwards.”
“Chirpy, front-foot – that’s Sean Dyche for you,” remarks Matt Smith on TNT Sports.
Forest can secure a home second leg by not dropping lower than 16th, says the estimable Matt Smith on TNT Sports. Sounds entirely plausible.
I simply have to share the quote of the day from the Australian Open. Aryna Sabalenka on her brush with an umpire during her women’s singles semi-final win against Elina Svitolina:
“How do I say in a nice way? She really pissed me off.”
Rob Smyth
Football fans are used to seeing a goalkeeper charge upfield for a set piece in the last few minutes of a game. Jan Tomaszewski, the Polish “clown” who denied England a place at the 1974 World Cup, may have been the first to do so, and it has become normalised in the 21st century. On Wednesday in Lisbon, there was a new twist on an old tactic. In the 98th minute, Benfica keeper Anatoliy Trubin legged it upfield – at a time when his team were leading Real Madrid.
I saw Brentford 0-2 Nottingham Forest with my own eyes, and Sean Dyche’s team were excellent. People said it was a classically Dyche-ian display, defending solidly and hitting on the break, but it was also somehow a tribute to Nuno Espírito Santo, whose Forest team won 2-0 at Brentford last season playing the same way. Murillo and Milenkovic were both back to their miserly best in central defence.
Porto v Rangers teams
Porto: Costa, Alberto Costa, Bednarek, Kiwior, Moura, Froholdt, Varela, Mora, William, Aghehowa, Pepe. Substitutes: Claudio Ramos, Joao Costa, Stephen Eustaquio, Veiga, Sanusi, Rosario, Sainz, Prpic, Gul, Fernandes, Miranda, Bras.
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Aarons, Raskin, Diomande, Meghoma, Gassama, Chermiti, Curtis. Substitutes: Kelly, Wright, Souttar, Aasgaard, Antman, Miovski, Moore, Stewart, Smith, Gentles, Kerr.
Referee: Jasper Vergoote (Belgium)
Celtic v Utrecht teams
Celtic: Schmeichel, Donovan, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, Nygren, McGregor, Engels, Yang, Maeda, Tounekti. Substitutes: Sinisalo, Doohan, Balikwisha, McCowan, Iheanacho, Bernardo, Murray, Forrest, McArdle, Ralston, Hale, Isiguzo.
Utrecht: Barkas, Vesterlund, van der Hoorn, Viergever, Murkin, Engwanda, Zechiel, Cathline, de Wit, Blake, Rodriguez. Substitutes: Brouwer, Gadellaa, van den Berg, Bozdogan, El Karouani, Didden, El Arguioui, van Ommeren, Menzo, Haller.
Referee: Mohammed Al Emara (Finland)
Nottingham Forest v Ferencvaros teams
I make it four changes for Forest from the 2-0 win at Brentford. Abbott, Morato, McAtee and Ndoye come into the starting lineup. Murillo, Gibbs-White and Hudson-Odoi all on the bench.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Abbott, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams, McAtee, Yates, Sangare, Ndoye, Igor Jesus, Dominguez. Substitutes: Gunn, Willows, Murillo, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Bakwa, Aina, Whitehall, Thompson, Sinclair, Hammond.
Ferencvaros: Grof, Cisse, Otvos, Szalai, Makreckis, Romao, Kanichowsky, Levi, Cadu, Yusuf, Zachariassen. Substitutes: Varga, Toth, Keita, Gruber, Golik, Lakatos, Madarasz, Joseph, Nagy.
Referee: Sebastian Gishamer (Austria)
“It’s clear,” O’Neill says of Celtic’s task tonight. “Executing it is something else. It’s at home. We’ve got some advantage there with the big crowd … we’ve made it difficult for ourselves, but even so, it’s a game to win.
“We’ve expended a lot of energy in the last couple of weeks. The bench will play a very important part.
“It’s bringing it forward. It’s more games to look forward to, if we make it [into the knockouts]. If you are trying to chase down the league, I’d be delighted if I was the opposition, if Celtic progressed … but it’s all part of it. You’ve got to make the most of it.”
Aston Villa v Salzburg teams
It’s six changes for Villa from the 2-0 win at Newcastle. Tielemans, Bogarde, Lindelof, Rogers, Maatsen and Elliott come in.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Bogarde, Lindelof, Mings, Digne, Sancho, Onana, Hemmings, Buendía, Watkins, Elliott. Substitutes: Bizot, Wright, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Jimoh, Maatsen, Rogers, Young.
Salzburg: Schlager, Trummer, Gadou, Schuster, Kratzig, Bidstrup, Kitano, Diabate, Baidoo, Konate, Alajbegovic. Substitutes: Zawieschitzky, Hamzic, Rasmussen, Terzic, Bischoff, Onisiwo, Kjaergaard, Diambou, Lainer, Lukic, Aguilar, Yeo.
Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway)
What are your hopes, expectations, dreams and fears? You can email me.
Tonight’s latest Europa League scores are available here.
I mean, they will be after 8pm UK time / 9pm CET. At the moment, it’s 0-0 everywhere.
“Villa feel like a proper club again,” says your roving reporter Martin Keown at Villa Park. Not sure what “proper” means there, but OK.
“They can win the Premier League. Everyone’s saying they can’t.”
Can they? Do they? Are they?
Steve Sidwell there, with some thoughts on Martin O’Neill’s management style. He said the current Celtic interim manager didn’t get too involved at training in his experience but come each Friday “he would come into his own”, engendering a “siege mentality” and making players feel “10 feet tall”.
Celtic are one of five teams that could drop into the elimination places tonight. Young Boys, Brann, Lille and GNK Dinamo are the other four. In other words, fewer than 10 points in the table, and you’re at risk.
Max Rushden
It’s half an hour after attempting to watch 18 football matches at the same time on the final match day of the Champions League group stage, so it’s still a little early to tell whether I think it was a brilliant night of football or not.
The information overload from a TV, laptop and phone means I may need a couple of weeks to really process it – by which time of course this will all be forgotten and we’ll be wondering whether one point from three Premier League games is enough for Thomas Frank to keep his job.
Here’s a dash of transfer news for your delectation:
The following 13 sides secured their place in the knockouts after Matchday 7, otherwise known as last week:
Bologna, Braga, Celta Vigo, Crvena Zvezda, Fenerbahçe, Genk, Nottingham Forest, Panathinaikos, PAOK, Porto, Roma, Stuttgart, Viktoria Plzen.
Meanwhile Lyon, Villa, Ferencvaros, Freiburg, Midtjylland and Real Betis were already through as of Matchday 6.
And again, Aston Villa and Lyon are the two teams guaranteed to be in the round of 16 already. Clear?
Ewan Murray
Martin O’Neill’s involvement in celebrated European moments in Celtic’s history means he is entitled to bridle at the belief that domain is no longer a priority. O’Neill used pre-match media duties for the Europa League visit of Utrecht on Thursday to point towards what has the potential to be an uplifting few days for the Scottish champions.
“We got a result in Feyenoord and fought our guts out in Bologna,” he said. “We don’t now want to just throw it away. We want to try and go for it if we can. We could still lose the game. We might not win the match and we might go out of the competition, but we want to give it a go.”
Tonight we reveal the Uefa Europa League table – IN FULL and UNREDACTED:
As it stands, Lyon, Aston Villa, Freiburg, Midtjylland, Braga, Roma, Ferencvaros and Real Betis are the clubs in the top eight.
As ninth-placed Porto are on 14pts, it means that Lyon and Aston Villa, joint-top and both on 18pts, are the only clubs mathematically guaranteed to finish in the top eight, and go straight to the round of 16.
Preamble
Welcome to the Union of European Football Associations Europa League Matchday 8. It’s all to play for this evening as 11 hungry teams compete for a paltry five remaining knockout phase places, not to mention the tear-up to make it into the hallowed top eight and qualify automatically for the last 16.
Aston Villa v Salzburg, Nottingham Forest v Ferencvaros and Celtic v Utrecht will be among the fixtures that are uppermost in our thoughts among the feast of 18 matches. But we’ll try to stay across the mind-melting complexity of the league-phase finale in all its glory.
Will we witness anything remotely as exciting as the goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin “doing a Jimmy Glass” against Real Madrid, and sending Benfica into the Champions League knockouts with a 98th-minute header? It seems unlikely but stranger things have happened.
Kick-offs at 8pm UK/9pm CET.
