Here’s Ben Fisher’s verdict from the City Ground. Thanks for joining me, it’s been fun. Until next time … Here’s Ed Aarons’ report from Lublin on Palace’s earlier victory … And a roundup of the early Europa League action.
Here’s Ange Postecoglou: “Really disappointing. Really, really poor – the goals we conceded … key moments let us down, we haven’t shown as much desire as the opposition. It’s been the story of the last few games.” Did refereeing decisions play a part?
“We allowed them to play a part, it shouldn’t have come to that. We’re not winning games, which is what we need to do. “I heard [the chants at the end] – they’re fans, they want to see their team win.
Does it surprise me? Nothing surprises me in football. We’ve just got to keep our heads up.
I’ve not seen anything to suggest the players are not trying to take my ideas on board, but we’re not delivering in key moments.” Aberdeen 2-3 Shakhtar Donetsk AEK Larnaca 4-0 AZ Alkmaar Celje 3-1 AEK Athens Fiorentina 2-0 Sigma Olomouc Legia Warsaw 0-1 Samsunspor Rakow 2-0 Univ. Craiova Shelbourne 0-0 Häcken Slovan Bratislava 1-2 Strasbourg Sparta Prague 4-1 Shamrock Rovers Basel 2-0 Stuttgart Celta Vigo 3-1 PAOK Porto 2-1 Red Star Feyenoord 0-2 Aston Villa Genk 0-1 Ferencvaros Lyon 2-0 Salzburg Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-3 Dinamo Zagreb Nottingham Forest 2-3 Midtjylland Sturm Graz 2-1 Rangers Forest have time to swing in a couple of dangerous crosses, but the visitors see it out for an impressive win.
At full-time the boos ring out, following chants of “sacked in the morning” after Midtjylland’s winner. Six games without a win as Forest manager now for Big Ange. A job well done for Unai Emery’s side, who withstood first-half pressure before grabbing all three points with goals from Emi Buendía and John McGinn.
Aberdeen scored the first and last goals of the game but were undone by three Shakhtar goals in a 20-minute spell either side of half-time. The positives: Rangers won the second half, after a dismal first 45 minutes. The negatives: they still lost the game.
Chris Wood slots home the penalty, and there’s still three minutes for the hosts to rescue something – despite plenty of home fans heading for the exits straight after Byskov struck. Penalty for Forest! Anderson gets a kick on the ankle and after being invited to look at the monitor, the referee points to the spot.
A bad night gets even worse for Ange Postecoglou. Here, the visitors mix things up by scoring from a Forest corner, breaking downfield before Valdemar Byskov sweeps home. There was certainly a case that Hudson-Odoi was fouled in the buildup, but the referee waved play on.
Basel double their lead at home to Stuttgart, Moritz Broschinski finishing off a cross from Xherdan Shaqiri. At least it’s a reasonably short trip home for the away fans. In the Conference League, Slovenian upstarts Celje – who reached the quarter-finals last season – are 3-1 up at home to AEK Athens.
It’s looking like a very happy return to Rotterdam for Villa. Donyell Malen bustles through on goal and while the keeper closes down his shot, it rebounds nicely for John McGinn to fire home. And again!
Chris Wood sees a second goal disallowed after racing through and prodding into the far corner – but he’s a couple of yards offside. Forest have the ball in the net, but Elliot Anderson was offside when he pounced on a rebound from Neco Williams’ shot and crossed for Wood to tap home. Still, Forest have the momentum … Celta now lead PAOK 3-1, the excellently-named Williot Swedberg extending their lead.
In the Conference League, AZ Alkmaar are 3-0 down at AEK Larnaca, having been down to 10 men since the second minute. Buendía and Watkins head off in Rotterdam, replaced by Donyell Malen and young defender Lamarae Bogarde. A big change for Forest: Igor Jesus is going off, with Chris Wood coming on.
I suppose one upside of Aston Villa’s PSR concerns this summer is that they’ve been forced to use Emi Buendía, a player they had left in a cupboard somewhere but who is now reminding Unai Emery he’s quite a decent footballer. Maybe Jimmy Thelin’s goose isn’t entirely cooked yet – Nicky Devlin has headed home to get Aberdeen back in the game. Forest have started to find some attacking rhythm, and overcome another nervous moment from a Midtjylland corner.
They still trail though, with the clock ticking towards 70 minutes. In the Conference League, Shamrock Rovers are 3-0 down in an admittedly tough away day at Sparta Prague – but Shelbourne are holding Häcken at home, where it’s still goalless. Aberdeen now trail 3-1 to Shakhtar, Pedro Henrique extending the visitors’ lead.
Elsewhere, Borja Iglesias has put my Europa League dark horses, Celta Vigo, 2-1 up against Greece’s PAOK. It had been coming since the restart and now Villa lead! It’s their comeback kid, Emi Buendía, who finishes clinically from the edge of the area after a scrappy passage of play.
That came moments after a decent penalty shout was waved away. A big chance for...