Match report: Real Betis 2-2 Nottm Forest
Ben Fisher has filed on the whistle – which is tougher than it sounds – so I’ll leave you with his report. Goodnight.
Updated
Full-time scores
Betis 2-2 Nottm Forest
Braga 1-0 Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 Fenerbahce
Freiburg 2-1 Basel
Malmo FF 1-2 Ludogorets
Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz
Nice 1-2 AS Roma
PAOK 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Red Star 1-1 Celtic
Full time: Red Star 1-1 Celtic
A decent point for Celtic in Belgrade. The substitute Kelechi Iheanacho’s fine goal was cancelled out by Marko Arnautovic; it sounds like a draw is a fair result.
Full time: Real Betis 2-2 Nottm Forest
Nottingham Forest return to Europe with an entertaining draw in Seville. Igor Jesus scored twice in an outstanding first-half performance, when Forest turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. But Betis dominated the second half and deserved Antony’s late equaliser.
90+3 min: Betis 2-2 Nottm Forest Willy Boly is coming on to replace the injured Nikola Milenkovic. No idea about the severity of the injury – Milenkovic was able to walk off – but Forest won’t want to lose him for long, especially with Murillo already out.
90 min: Real Betis 2-2 Nottm Forest A draw away to Betis is a good result, but there will be some frustration for Forest given how superb they were in the first half. Three minutes of added time.
88 min: Real Betis 2-2 Nottm Forest Ange Postecoglou made an attacking substitution at half-time, bringing on Dilane Bakwa for Douglas Luiz. I’m sure there will be some scrutiny of that if it stays like this, or gets worse.
Antony, the darling of Real Betis, has equalised with five minutes to play. Betis worked the ball well in the inside-left channel before Marc Roca crossed invitingly across the face of the goal. Zinchenko let the ball run and Antony steered the ball back across Matz Sels with his right foot. We’ve not seen a replay but that looked like a terrific finish.
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GOAL! Betis 2-2 Nottm Forest (Antony 85)
It’s been coming.
80 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest Fornals takes a short corner, gets it back from Antony and arrows a cutback that has a bit too much heat and height on it for Natan six yards out. The pressure is mounting on Forest.
There have been goals for Braga and Malmo in the last few minutes. Check out the latest scores below.
Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest
Braga 1-0 Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 Fenerbahce
Freiburg 2-0 Basel
Malmo FF 1-2 Ludogorets
Nice 1-2 AS Roma
Red Star 1-1 Celtic
Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz (FT)
PAOK 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv (FT)
77 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest Pablo Fornals, the very same, is on for Betis and has just lasered a long-range shot not far wide. Forest need to be careful.
GOAL! Nice 1-2 Roma (Moffi 77 pen) Nice are back in the game thanks to a calmly taken penalty from Terem Moffi.
73 min: Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest Betis have been the better team for most of the second half, though it’s worth stressing that Matz Sels hasn’t had a difficult save to make. Betis’s xG is negligible, Martin!
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72 min: Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest The Betis substitute Rodrigo Riquelme is rolling round holding his face after an off-the-ball incident with Nikola Milenkovic. Nothing much in it.
The latest scores with around 20 minutes to play
Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest
Braga 0-0 Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 Fenerbahce
Freiburg 2-0 Basel
Malmo FF 0-2 Ludogorets
Nice 0-2 AS Roma
Red Star 1-1 Celtic
Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz (FT)
PAOK 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv (FT)
“I completely accepted the negative xG for Nayim’s goal for a lot longer than a grown adult should,” says Dan Christmas. “Also watching those goals, the PL had some rubbish keepers in the 1990s.”
You’ve watched it lately have you?
GOAL! Red Star 1-1 Celtic (Arnautovic 65)
Marko Arnautovic equalises for Red Star Belgrade! A corner from the left was headed beyond the far post, then screwed back into the six-yard box. Arnautovic got to the ball first and slipped it past Kasper Schmeichel.
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66 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest Kalimuendo has a good chance for Forest on the break. His first touch is poor, alas, and the Betis defence are able to get back.
64 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest No hat-trick for Igor Jesus – he’s been replaced by Arnaud Kalimuendo. Igor Jesus had a quieter second half after running amok in the first.
Europa League latest scores
Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest
Braga 0-0 Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 Fenerbahce
Freiburg 2-0 Basel
Malmo FF 0-2 Ludogorets
Nice 0-2 AS Roma
Red Star 0-1 Celtic
Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz (FT)
PAOK 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv (FT)
GOAL! Red Star 0-1 Celtic (Iheanacho 55)
Celtic take the lead with a terrific team goal. They passed the ball calmly from one end of the field to the other before Benjamin Nygren guided a pass towards the substitute Kelechi Iheanacho in the area. He controlled it deftly on the half turn and sidefooted a rising shot into the net. Matheus Magalhaes got a touch with his left hand but couldn’t keep it out.
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GOAL! Nice 0-2 Roma (Mancini 55) A second goal for Roma, who incidentally are sporting this beautiful third kit. Gianluca Mancini doubled their lead with a classy volley from Kostas Tsimikas’s superb cross.
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GOAL! Nice 0-1 Roma (Ndicka 52) Roma lead in France through the simplest of goals: Lorenzo Pellegrini’s corner, Evan Ndicka’s near-post header.
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50 min: Betis 1-2 Nottingham Forest Betis have started the second half on the attack, as you’d expect given the scoreline. No alarms for Forest yet though.
Peep peep! The second halves are under way. Real Betis have made a triple substitution against Nottingham Forest, who have brought on Dilane Bakwa for Douglas Luiz.
“Ah the 1990s,” says Niall Mullen. “Ten goals here with a combined xG of 0.8 (Nayim’s has a negative xG according to the boffins) but the combined AJ (actual joy) is off the scale.”
Nice 0-0 Roma “I’d like to assure your readers that you have, in fact, given Nice v Roma all the attention it deserves,” writes Kári Tulinius . “Absolutely nothing happened in the first half, other than that Dante is old for a professional footballer.”
Oh, 41’s old now is it? Thanks.
Half-time scores
Two goals from a rampant Igor Jesus have put Forest ahead in Seville. They’ve been really impressive and could lead by more.
These are all the half-time scores in the Europa League.
Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest
Braga 0-0 Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb 1-1 Fenerbahce
Freiburg 1-0 Basel
Malmo FF 0-2 Ludogorets
Nice 0-0 AS Roma
Red Star 0-0 Celtic
45+1 min: Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest Natan is booked for wiping out Anderson, who has looked a class apart in midfield.
43 min: Red Star Belgrade 0-0 Celtic I’ve been following the Forest game so can’t provide chapter or verse on events in Belgrade, but the stats suggest a fairly even, low-key half. Suggest, Martin.
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“Krishnamoorthy V makes an interesting point, but I think it’s flawed,” says Matt Dony. “Gaudi was never able to see the Sagrada Familia, whereas Nuno is forced to see Forest reaping the rewards of his work and (at least at the moment) having a jolly old time.
“I think it’s more like Jason Cropper, fired from Weezer just before recording the seminal Blue Album. He had to sit back and watch the Buddy Holly video take over the world thanks to the Windows 95 tie-in that I still don’t fully understand. Still. The 90s. Magical.”
Magical.
40 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest This has been a fabulous performance from Forest, who are playing some smooth, penetrative football and could easily be 3-1 or 4-1 ahead.
33 min: Real Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest Igor Jesus, who looks an almighty handful and is being added to hundreds of thousands of FPL teams as we speak, forces a decent save from Pau Lopez with a snapshot from about 12 yards.
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.
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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.
Updated
There have been a few goals elsewhere, though nothing in Belgrade. These are the latest scores.
Betis 1-2 Nottm Forest
Braga 0-0 Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb 1-1 Fenerbahce
Freiburg 1-0 Basel
Malmo FF 0-2 Ludogorets
Nice 0-0 AS Roma
Red Star 0-0 Celtic
Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz (FT)
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.
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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.
Updated
“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.
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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.
Updated
The latest scores
Betis 1-0 Nottm Forest
Braga 0-0 Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Fenerbahce
Freiburg 0-0 Basel
Malmo FF 0-1 Ludogorets
Nice 0-0 AS Roma
Red Star 0-0 Celtic
Midtjylland 2-0 Sturm Graz (FT)
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…
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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.
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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.
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'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.
Midtjylland 1-0 Sturm Graz (5.45pm)
PAOK 0-0 M. Tel Aviv (5.45pm)
Betis v Nottm Forest
Braga v Feyenoord
Dinamo Zagreb v Fenerbahce
Freiburg v Basel
Malmo FF v Ludogorets
Nice v AS Roma
Red Star v Celtic
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