Ryan Yates scores own goal as Nottingham Forest lose at Braga in Europa League
Hosts score 54 seconds after Morgan Gibbs-White has penalty saved
Eliot Anderson sent off late on for Forest
Aston Villa book place in last 16 with win over Fenerbahce
Jadon Sancho scores only goal as Unai Emery's side win 1-0
10-man Celtic draw 2-2 at Bologna
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Tough match for Villa tonight with the injuries in midfield and the lack of a back-up striker. A draw would be a good result.
Simon, Leicestershire
Fenerbahce v Aston Villa (17:45 GMT)
Image source, Getty ImagesThis will be Aston Villa manager Unai Emery’s 100th match in the Europa League (since 2009-10), becoming the first manager to reach that milestone.
Emery has won the Europa League a record four times, with his first three trophies occurring in consecutive seasons with Sevilla.
The Spaniard then won his last Europa League trophy in 2021 when his Villareal side beat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United.
Fenerbahce v Aston Villa (17:45 GMT)
Image source, Getty ImagesAston Villa fans have had some memorable moments under Unai Emery.
Jhon Duran, who lines up as a striker for Fenerbahce, was responsible for maybe the highest of those highs when he scored the winner for Villa in a 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Fenerbahce have two familiar faces in the ranks who used to be at Villa not so long ago in the form of Marco Asensio and Duran.
Asensio has been in scintillating form this campaign, having scored eight times and providing six assists in the league, while Duran left Villa around a year ago.
Emery knows the qualities of both the players, adding: “They are fantastic players. Asensio, with his career being amazing and a lot of experiences, and of course, with us, he performed very well last year.
“And Jhon Duran, we saw him last year performing very well with us, to Saudi and then Fenerbahce signed him.
“We will play against them and we respect them a lot and of course, to stop them is not easy. Every player, they are very dangerous.”
Fenerbahce v Aston Villa (17:45 GMT)
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty ImagesFenerbahce v Aston Villa (17:45 GMT)
Mike Taylor
BBC WM commentator in Istanbul
Every seat in the home areas of the stadium has been supplied with a Turkish national flag. Villa fans began entering the stadium nearly three hours before kick-off after making the journey in convoy with a police escort across the city.
As soon as their singing became audible, the Fenerbahce fans whistled their disapproval, and the stadium PA was turned right up...
Image source, Getty ImagesFenerbahce v Aston Villa (17:45 GMT)
So many familiar names in the Fenerbahce line-up. In goal is ex-Manchester City stopper Ederson. In defence there's former Wolves full-back Nelson Semedo. Fred, once of Manchester United, is in midfield. And up top is ex-Aston Villa forward Jhon Duran.
Fenerbahce XI: Ederson, Muldur, Oosterwolde, Skriniar, Nelson Semedo, Yuksek, Fred, Akturkoglu, Asensio, Nene, Duran.
Subs: Soyuncu, Alvarez, Cetin, Demir, Biterge, Aydin, Talisca, Karatas.
Plenty of changes for Aston Villa. Only Matty Cash, Youri Tielemans, Emi Buendia, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins survive from the side that started against Everton at the weekend.
Aston Villa XI: Bizot, Digne, Mings, Lindelof, Cash, Tielemans, Bogarde, Buendia, Rogers, Sancho, Watkins.
Subs: Konsa, Torres, Garcia, Jimoh-Aloba, Maatsen, Onana, Guessand, Young, Proctor, Hemmings, Wright.
Celtic are currently holding the final play-off place with two matches to go, while Rangers will not be playing in European football after January after failing to win any of their six games in the league phase.
Fenerbahce v Aston Villa (17:45 GMT)
A win or draw for Aston Villa tonight would put them top of the Europa League.
However, the West Midlands side will need results to go their way as Lyon and Midtjylland play later this evening (20:00 GMT kick-offs).
Fenerbahce would jump into the top eight with Aston Villa if they win, but with the remaining 11 sides above them playing tonight, their time in the automatic qualification spots could be limited.
View the full Europa League table here
Eighteen games in the competition tonight, a warm-up to when every team will be playing at the same time on a frantic final day next Thursday.
Hello and welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of the Europa League.
This page will focus on the Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest matches, while the Celtic and Rangers ones can be found here with that coverage beginning at 17:00 GMT.
It has been a great season so far for English clubs in Europe.
Six of the top 11 in the Champions League are from England, while Crystal Palace have secured a play-off spot in the Conference League.
It's the Europa League tonight and Aston Villa can clinch a place in the last 16, while Nottingham Forest will very much strengthen their chances as well if they win.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 18 |
| |
| 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 18 |
| |
3 Freiburg | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 17 |
|
4 Midtjylland | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
|
5 Sporting Braga | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
|
| 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 15 |
| |
7 Ferencváros | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 15 |
|
| 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 14 |
| |
9 Porto | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 14 |
|
10 Genk | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 13 |
|
11 Red Star Belgrade | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 |
|
12 PAOK | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 12 |
|
13 Stuttgart | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
|
14 Celta Vigo | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 12 |
|
15 Bologna | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 12 |
|
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| |
17 Viktoria Plzeň | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
|
18 Fenerbahçe | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
|
19 Panathinaikos | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 11 |
|
20 Dinamo Zagreb | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 14 | -2 | 10 |
|
| 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 9 |
| |
22 Brann | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 9 |
|
23 Young Boys | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 13 | -5 | 9 |
|
| 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 13 | -4 | 8 |
| |
25 Ludogorets Razgrad | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 7 |
|
26 Feyenoord | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 6 |
|
27 Basel | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 6 |
|
28 Red Bull Salzburg | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 6 |
|
29 FCSB | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 15 | -7 | 6 |
|
30 Go Ahead Eagles | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 14 | -8 | 6 |
|
| 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 4 |
| |
32 Sturm Graz | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 4 |
|
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 14 | -7 | 3 |
| |
34 Utrecht | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 11 | -8 | 1 |
|
35 Malmö FF | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 13 | -10 | 1 |
|
36 Maccabi Tel Aviv | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 19 | -17 | 1 |
|
Manager: Carlos Vicens
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Sean Dyche
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
Manager: Carlos Vicens
Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1
Manager: Sean Dyche
Formation: 4 - 4 - 2
UEFA Europa League
All competitions
All competitions
This is the first ever meeting between Sporting Braga and Nottingham Forest – Braga’s last three UEFA Europa League games against English teams have produced 16 goals, with two 3-3 draws against Wolves and Leicester, and a 4-0 defeat to the Foxes as well.
Nottingham Forest’s only previous European match against a Portuguese side came on MD3 of this season’s UEFA Europa League, when they beat FC Porto 2-0.
Including qualifiers, Sporting Braga have won 10 of their last 13 European matches (D2 L1), keeping nine clean sheets in this run. Their nine wins in all European competition in 2025-26 is their joint most in a season, along with their nine wins in 2010-11.
Nottingham Forest have won three of their four UEFA Europa League games under Sean Dyche (D1), making him one of only two English managers with three wins in their first four games, along with Gary Neville in 2016 with Valencia. No Englishman has won four of his first five in the competition.
Sporting Braga’s Ricardo Horta could make his 50th UEFA Europa League start in this match – he has 13 assists overall in the competition, with only four players having more.
