Villa earn 2-0 win at Feyenoord, Forest fall to Midtjylland
Agency :
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.
Porto left it late before beating Red Star Belgrade 2-1, while Rangers slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Sturm Graz.
Villa were forced into a change before kick-off, Marco Bizot replacing Emi Martinez, and the late call-up was the busier keeper in the opening half, twice denying Anis Hadj Moussa and pulling off an impressive save from Luciano Valente.
After weathering the first half storm, Villa took the lead in the 61st minute with Emiliano Buendia taking one touch to control Boubacar Kamara’s pass at the edge of the area before drilling his shot into the bottom corner.
Villa wrapped up the win 11 minutes from time when Donyell Malen raced into the box before losing possession but John McGinn was there to pounce and smash the ball into the net, leaving Villa on maximum points after two games.
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.
Forest fell behind in the 18th minute after Mads Bech flicked on a free kick into the box which Ousmane Diao tapped in from close-range. The hosts were level within four minutes when a long punt forward by the keeper was gathered by Morgan Gibbs-White who squared the ball into the area and Dan Ndoye got ahead of his marker to net under pressure.
Midtjylland were ahead again two minutes later from a corner kick with keeper Matz Sels saving Martin Erlic’s header but Bech was there to poke the ball home.
The Danes were 3-1 up with two minutes left through Valdemar Byskov, prompting Forest fans to chant “you’re getting sacked in the morning”.
With Forest fans heading for the exit, the home side did pull one back from a Chris Wood added time penalty, but it was all too late to even snatch a draw.
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.
Tomi Horvat’s deflected shot gave Sturm Graz an early lead and Otar Kiteishvili finished off Horvat’s free kick in behind the Rangers defense to put the Austrians two-up at the break.
Rangers pulled one back four minutes after the interval through Djeidi Gassama but the hosts held on.
Celtic lost 2-0 at home against Braga, falling behind when keeper Kasper Schmeichel failed to deal with Ricardo Horta’s shot from distance and Gabri Martinez wrapped up Braga’s win five minutes from time.