Key events
Hudson-Odoi hits the post!
33 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest How the flip did that stay out? Zinchenko curled a wicked corner that flashed across the six-yard box and was volleyed against the post from close range by Igor Jesus. He had an open goal but saw the ball really late; that’s surely the only reason he didn’t score.
I beg your pardon – replays show that it was Callum Hudson-Odoi who got a toe to the ball just before Igor Jesus.
31 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest Igor Jesus almost completes a 14-minute hat-trick! He had a close-range shot desperately blocked after a delightful slalom and cutback from Elliot Anderson.
There have been a few goals elsewhere, though nothing in Belgrade. These are the latest scores.
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Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest
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Braga 0-0 Feyenoord
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Dinamo Zagreb 1-1 Fenerbahce
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Freiburg 1-0 Basel
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Malmo FF 0-2 Ludogorets
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Nice 0-0 AS Roma
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Red Star 0-0 Celtic
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Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz (FT)
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PAOK 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv (FT)
25 min Igor Jesus wipes out Natan and is booked. It was a poor tackle, but one fuelled by an excess of zeal rather than anything vicious.
GOAL! Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest (Igor Jesus 23)
Igor Jesus gets his second! Douglas Luiz swung a dipping left-wing corner onto his head, six yards out, and he powered a terrific downward header past Pau Lopez.
“Hello Rob,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Nuno must be feeling very much like Antoni Gaudi who never saw the completion of his masterpiece Sagrada Familia (as a matter of fact none have seen it so far!).”
It was a simple finish for Igor Jesus at the end of a lovely passing move. Zinchenko and Anderson combined to find Sangare, who found Gibbs-White in space on the right side of the area. He angled a perfect low cross and Igor Jesus had an open goal at the far post.
I thought Igor Jesus might have strayed offside but he timed his movement perfectly and the goal stands.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-1 Nottm Forest (Igor Jesus 18)
Now that’s what I call a response! VAR permitting, Igor Jesus has scored a lovely equaliser for Forest.
The latest scores
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Betis 1-0 Nottm Forest
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Braga 0-0 Feyenoord
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Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Fenerbahce
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Freiburg 0-0 Basel
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Malmo FF 0-1 Ludogorets
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Nice 0-0 AS Roma
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Red Star 0-0 Celtic
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Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz (FT)
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PAOK 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv (FT)
Goal given! Real Betis 1-0 Nottm Forest No offside, the goal stands!
GOAL! Real Betis 1-0 Nottm Forest (Bakambu 15)
Forest had started well, but Cedric Bakambu has just put Betis ahead. Antony zipped infield from the right, away from a defender, and slid a good pass to find Bakambu in the area. He took a touch and slapped the ball past Selz.
Hold the bells, there’s a VAR check for offside…
15 min: Nice 0-0 Roma A bit of history tonight for the Nice captain Dante, who is the oldest outfield player in Europa League history: 41 years 341 days.
That’s considered old, now, is it? 41?
12 min: Real Betis 0-0 Nottm Forest It’s been a decent start from Forest, who are keeping the ball in the new-Ange style.
“The Wikipedia entry for How Deep Is Your Love divides the cover versions into ‘Take That’ (about which there’s a mound of useless information) and ‘Other notable versions’, which says something about Wikipedia’s criteria for notability, because the really good one is absent!” writes Phil Podolsky. “Bloody typical. “
If the above makes no sense whatsoever, Phil is referring to the top 10 of the charts mentioned at 6.53pm.
The first goal of the 8pm games has been scored in Sweden, where a penalty from Petar Stanic has given Ludogorets the lead against Malmo. Yep.
2 min: Real Betis 0-0 Nottm Forest Morgan Gibbs-White is booked inside two minutes for pulling back Junior Firpo. As expected, Gibbs-White has started on the right wing in a 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 formation.
Peep peep! The seven 8pm games are under way. Nottingham Forest are back in Europe!
Wonder what Nuno is up to tonight. I don’t mean that flippantly. This is a landmark night for Forest, one that he engineered, and he won’t be involved in it.
Full time: Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz
Ousmane Diao’s 88th-minute header sealed victory for Midtjylland, but it was the result of another desperate error from the keeper Oliver Christensen.
The other early game finished PAOK 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Carabao Cup clockwatch
If you’d prefer a bit of domestic action tonight, Scott Murray is on Carabao Cup duty.
76 min: Midtjylland 1-0 Sturm Graz
The first goal of this season’s Europa League did not, alas, leave the Sturm Graz keeper Oliver Christensen drenched in glory. He saw an inswinging corner late and shovelled it miserably into his own net. That was after seven minutes; Midtjylland still lead 69 minutes later.
The other early game, between PAOK and Maccabi Tel Aviv, remains goalless.
Red Star Belgrade v Celtic team news
Brendan Rodgers made a heap of changes for the weekend’s League Cup quarter-final victory at Partick, so tonight’s XI is closer to the team he picked for the last league game, a nervy 2-1 win at Kilmarnock 10 days ago.
There are two changes from that side. Kieran Tierney and Yang Hyun-jun come in for Marcelo Saracchi and Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
Red Star’s team includes ageing funster Marko Arnautovic, once of Stoke and West Ham.
Red Star Belgrade (poss; 4-2-3-1) Matheus Magalhaes; Seol, Tebo Uchenna, Veljkovic, Tiknizyan; Handel, Elsnik; Radonjic, Duarte, Ivanic; Arnautovic.
Subs: Glazer, Gutesa, Bajo, Milson, Katai, Olayinka, Kostov,
Stankovic, Lekovic, Lucic, Zaric, Avdic.
Celtic (4-3-3) Schmeichel; Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney; Nygren, McGregor, Hatate; Yang, Maeda, Tounekti.
Subs: Sinisalo, Doohan, Balikwisha, McCowan, Iheanacho, Kenny, Engels, Bernardo, Saracchi, Murray, Forrest, Ralston.
Referee Radu Petrescu.
Real Betis v Nottm Forest team news
Ange Postecoglou makes three changes to the Forest side that drew away to Burnley on Saturday. Ibrahim Sangare, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Igor Jesus replace Dan Ndoye, Dilane Bakwa and Chris Wood. Not sure what that means tactically, and I don’t care possibly a switch to 4-3-3 with Morgan Gibbs-White playing from the flank.
Real Betis, who sit eighth in La Liga, have some familiar faces in their side, including Antony, Junior Firpo, Sofyan Amrabat and Giovani Lo Celso.
Real Betis (4-2-3-1) Pau Lopez; Ortiz, Natan, Gomez, Firpo, Altimira, Amrabat; Antony, Lo Celso, Ezzalzouli; Bakambu.
Subs: Valles, Adrian, Fornals, Avila, Rodriguez, Riquelme, Hernandez, Roca, Ruibal, Morante, Garreta.
Nottm Forest (possible 4-3-3) Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Morato, Zinchenko; Sangare, Douglas Luiz, Anderson; Gibbs-White, Igor Jesus, Hudson-Odoi.
Subs: John Victor, Wood, Ndoye, Kalimuendo, Dominguez, Yates, McAtee, Bakwa, Boly, Savona.
Referee Sascha Stegemann.
‘Klinsmann knows my name!’
It’s 19 March 1996. No really, folks, it is! To the astonishment of everyone apart from Fantasy Football League’s Statto, who tipped them months in advance, Sri Lanka have just won the cricket World Cup. Menswe@r are one of four Britpop or Britpop-adjacent bands in the top 10 of the charts. Nobody is using words like ‘Britpop-adjacent’ because they know it’ll lead to either ridicule or a bunch of fives.
Oh, and Nottingham Forest are facing Bayern Munich in the second leg of their Uefa Cup quarter-final. It would be their last game in Europe for 29 years – spoiler alert – and the ever excellent Ben Fisher has spoken to those involved.
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Ah, gowan.
Celtic are the other British side in action tonight. They face Red Star in Belgrade, a match they didn’t want to play. Nothing to do with Red Star, just the competition. Celtic hoped to be in the Champions League again – it’s only seven months since they gave Bayern Munich an almighty scare – but lost to Kairat Almaty in the third qualifying round.
Preamble
Hello, hello and welcome to the Guardian’s dedicated Europa League clockwatch. All Several eyes are on Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville, where Nottingham Forest will play Real Betis in their first European fixture since 1996. And they are managed by somebody who knows this competition intimately.
It’s rare to see a defence the Europa League in modern football, largely because – and you may not know this because it’s rarely discussed – the winners are rewarded with a place in the Champions League the following season.
The winning team, that is. The winning manager, Ange Postecoglou, was sacked by Spurs and has taken over from Nuno Espirito Santo, who left Nottingham Forest after well, you know. Big Ange’s presence adds another layer of every football writer’s favourite word, narrative, to Forest’s campaign.
For those who usually pay the Europa League no mind, the format is similar to the Champions League: an eight-game league phase, then a playoff, then the round of 16.
Here’s the full list of tonight’s games, with more to come tomorrow. All are 8pm kick-offs apart from the ones with (5.45pm) next to them.
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Midtjylland 1-0 Sturm Graz (5.45pm)
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PAOK 0-0 M. Tel Aviv (5.45pm)
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Betis v Nottm Forest
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Braga v Feyenoord
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Dinamo Zagreb v Fenerbahce
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Freiburg v Basel
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Malmo FF v Ludogorets
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Nice v AS Roma
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Red Star v Celtic
