Villa win in Europa League as Forest and Scottish clubs lose
PARIS: Aston Villa made it two wins from two in the Europa League with a 2-0 victory at Feyenoord on Thursday, but Nottingham Forest still await their first success under Ange Postecoglou after suffering a 3-2 home loss to Midtjylland as Rangers and Celtic also suffered defeats.
Rangers slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Sturm Graz and Celtic lost 2-0 at home against Braga after having an equaliser ruled out after a VAR decision, which manager Brendan Rodgers lamented as “baffling”.
Lille keeper Berke Ozer saved three consecutive penalties to help his side secure a 1-0 victory at AS Roma thanks to Hakon Arnar Haraldsson’s early strike, while FC Porto and Olympique Lyonnais also won to maintain their perfect starts.
Porto left it late before beating Red Star Belgrade 2-1 and Lyon beat RB Salzburg 2-0. Celta Vigo trimuphed 3-1 at home to PAOK Salonika, VfB Stuttgart lost 2-0 in Basel, Fenerbahce sank Nice 2-1 and Malmo remain bottom of the pile after a 3-0 defeat at Viktoria Plzen.
Emi Buendia curled in from 20 yards and John McGinn swept in a second goal in Rotterdam as Villa made a winning return to the scene of their 1982 European Cup triumph.
Villa failed to win any of their first six games of the season but Unai Emery’s side have since reeled off three successive victories and are among seven teams on a maximum six points in the Europa League.
Marco Bizot produced some key saves in the Villa goal after being thrust into the line-up as a late replacement for Emiliano Martinez, who reportedly injured his calf.
“It has been difficult in the beginning of the season but we never lost the faith and hope,” Bizot told TNT Sports. “We still have the spirit, even when it was not that great at the beginning. Now, hopefully, we can keep this up.”
A night full of expectation, with Forest playing their first European game at the City Ground since 1996, ended with boos ringing out around the stadium from those left in the stands after a humbling loss to the Danish side.
Postecoglou replaced Nuno Espirito Santo less than a month ago but the Australian has failed to win any of his first six games in charge in all competitions as Forest paid the price for sloppy defending at set-pieces.
Defenders Ousmane Diao and Mads Bech scored either side of Dan Ndoye’s goal as Midtjylland punished Forest for failing to deal with a free-kick and a corner.
Valdemar Andreasen netted the decisive goal two minutes from time as Chris Wood pulled one back for Forest from the spot in stoppage time. “Really disappointing. Just really, really poor goals we conceded in the first half,” said Postecoglou. “Story of our last few games - key moments let us down.”
Forest have just one point so far after a 2-2 draw away to Real Betis in their opening fixture.
Rangers’ miserable start to the season under beleaguered manager Russell Martin continued as they lost away to Austrian side Sturm Graz.
Tomi Horvat gave the hosts an early lead and Otar Kiteishvili doubled it as Rangers completely switched off and conceded from a free-kick.
Djeidi Gassama halved the deficit but it was another dismal night for Rangers, who remain without a point in Europe.
Celtic are just a point better off than their Glasgow rivals in the Europa League as Braga claimed their first-ever away win against Scottish opposition in UEFA competition thanks to goals from Ricardo Horta and Gabri Martinez.
The Scottish champions were left to rue a strange VAR decision after an earlier equaliser was ruled out for handball, even though replays seemed to clearly show that Kelechi Iheanacho had scored the goal without any use of his arm. The VAR took several minutes to review the incident before upholding the referee’s initial decision to disallow the goal.
OZER THE HERO AS LILLE BEAT ROMA
An even stranger scene took place in Rome, where the home team lost to Lille even though they were given three tries to equalise from the penalty spot late in the game. The first two efforts from Artem Dovbyk were both saved by goalkeeper Ozer — only for the referee to order the penalty to be retaken each time because of encroachment.
Roma then switched penalty takers to Mataas Soule, but Ozer saved that one as well, diving to his right to punch the ball away in the 85th minute — nearly four minutes after Dovbyk had made his first attempt.
In the first-ever competitive meeting between the sides, Haraldsson capitalised on an early Roma error to fire the visitors ahead after six minutes at Stadio Olimpico before Ozer sealed Lille’s win.
Porto took an early lead through William’s penalty but Red Star were level by half time thanks to Vasilije Kostov and it took an 89th minute Rodrigo Mora goal to keep the Portuguese side on maximum points.
A precise strike by Giovani Lo Celso from the edge of the area and an own goal from Spanish defender Son gave last season’s Conference League finalists Betis victory at Bulgarian side Ludogorets.
Celta came back from a goal down to win, with Iago Aspas, Borja Iglesias and Williot Swedberg netting three goals in 25 minutes after Giorgos Giakoumakis had given PAOK a 37th-minute lead.
Fenerbahce forward Kerem Akturkoglu scored when one-on-one with goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf early in the game and added the second with a deflected shot en route to victory over Nice.
Bologna drew 1-1 at home against Freiburg after Riccardo Orsolini scored for the hosts on a rebound before Junior Adamu equalised from the spot.
Milan Smit scored two late goals as Go Ahead Eagles came from behind to beat Panathinaikos 2-1 in Athens.
PALACE SHINE ON EUROPEAN DEBUT
Crystal Palace marked their first game in a major European competition by beating Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 in the Conference League. The victory extended the London team’s unbeaten run to a club record 19 games, stretching back to April.
Daniel Munoz headed in Yeremy Pino’s cross and substitute Eddie Nketiah doubled the advantage in the 58th. Palace finished the game with 10 men after midfielder Borna Sosa received his second yellow card in the 76th minute, but it was another impressive performance for Oliver Glasner’s side who remains the last unbeaten team in the Premier League.
The FA cup winners were demoted to the third-tier Conference League for breaching UEFA rules on club ownership.
“I’m proud that we could start the Conference League away against a very good opponent. I don’t think about this [unbeaten] run, because it has already happened, so for me it is important what comes next,” said Palace boss Oliver Glasner.
Also, Rayo Vallecano celebrated their return to Europe after 25 years with a 2-0 win over newcomer Shkendija from North Macedonia.
The Conference League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League and the Europa League. But teams play only six, not eight different opponents during the league phase.
Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2025