Europa League matchday 8: Forest win, Celtic thrash Utrecht, Porto draw with Rangers

Goals flew in on the Europa League matchday 8 league-phase finale, with Nottingham Forest beating Ferencvaros 2-0, Celtic defeating Utrecht 3-0 and Porto drawing 1-1 with Rangers among the key scores. Kick-offs were at 8pm UK / 9pm CET. Nottingham Forest opened through an own goal by Bence Otvos (17) and Igor Jesus made it 2-0 on 22 minutes after Ferencvaros were caught trying to play out from the back; Ferencvaros also hit the woodwork via Kristoffer Zachariassen.

The live blog notes Forest sit 11th as it stands and, according to commentary, can secure a home second leg by not dropping lower than 16th. Celtic raced into a 3-0 lead at home to Utrecht with Benjamin Nygren scoring on six minutes, Nick Viergever diverting a cross into his own net on 10 minutes, and Arne Engels converting a penalty on 19 minutes.

The live coverage said Celtic needed a win to progress into the knockouts. At Porto, Djeidi Gassama headed Rangers in front on six minutes before Rodrigo Mora levelled for Porto on 27. Other notable action included Real Betis 2-0 Feyenoord (Ezzalzouli 32), PAOK leading Lyon 1-0 (Georgios Giakoumakis 20), Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0 Bologna 1 (Riccardo Orsolini 19), FCSB 0 Fenerbahce 1 (Ismail Yuksek 18) and Stuttgart 2-0 Young Boys (Deniz Undav and Ermedin Demirovic).

The live table published in the coverage shows Lyon, Aston Villa, Freiburg, Midtjylland, Braga, Roma, Ferencvaros and Real Betis occupying the top eight.

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