Nottingham Forest v Malmö and memories of 1979. The two clubs have a special connection, also meeting in Forest’s last European campaign in the 1995-96 Uefa Cup, but it is the European Cup final 46 years ago that entwines these two together, with Britain’s first £1m player Trevor Francis heading the only goal of a pretty miserable final to clinch eternal glory for the red half of Nottingham.
“Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, grey-sweatered and anonymous amid all the colour and celebration, stood for a moment on a bench calmly observing the mafficking,” wrote David Lacey in 1979. Theirs has been an outstanding achievement that it is hard to see being repeated – from Second Division to European football in three seasons.”
It’s also interesting to pause a little on Malmö, who became the first, and to date the last, Scandinavian side to reach the final under English manager Bob Houghton. If you want to know a little bit more about that side and how they nearly conquered Europe, Jonathan Wilson does a pretty good job here.
This match is a far cry from that summit, closer perhaps to the Uefa Cup first-round tie between Forest and Malmö in 1995-96. Forest are absolutely buzzing after thrashing Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield on Saturday, while Malmö haven’t kicked a competitive ball since 9 November following the end of the Swedish league season (in which they finished a disappointing sixth). The smart money is on the English side tonight.
Plenty of other action on offer in this clockwatch. Rangers have already been beaten by a Braga this season (Striker Claudio Braga helped Hearts to a 2-0 win over the Glasgow side in September). Rangers are rock bottom of the 36-team Europa League standings at the half-way stage of the league phase with precisely zero points and one goal scored. They desperately need a victory if they are to have any hope of making a late surge for a playoff spot (they would have to finish at least 24th to do so).
We’ll keep you up to date with all nine of the 8pm kick-offs and provide the latest scores from the earlier matches, including Aston Villa v Young Boys and Feyenoord v Celtic.