Key events
GOAL! Rangers 0-2 Roma (Pellegrini 36)
Bad to worse for Rangers, who now trail by two goals! Dovbyk holds the ball up well, holding off Souttar and laying the ball back to Pellegrini, who sidefoots a finish into the corner from 20 yards!
GOAL! Real Betis 1-0 Lyon (Ezzalzouli 30)
A very similar goal to the Roma one, as Betis win a near post flick on from a corner, with Ezzalzouli stealing in unmarked to convert a tap in from close range.
Aston Villa 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
27 min: A confident email from Villa fan Benjamin Gravestock: “Villa have started OK; it will be interesting to see how the front three work tonight, especially with Ollie Watkins so out of form. Feeling fairly confident the Go Ahead game was like Bologna last year, a bit of an odd aberration in an overall good campaign. Think we should win tonight in reasonable comfort.”
Aston Villa 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
24 min: Maccabi press high as Sancho gives the ball away and suddenly the Israeli side are in, with Davida surging into the Villa box, cutting back and just firing wide via a deflection. Villa were lucky there, and the home crowd groan, giving Sancho plenty of food for thought. The (former?!) England international has been poor so far.
22 min: Remarkable that we have had over 20 minutes played in nine Europa League matches and just the solitary goal, at Ibrox.
Aston Villa 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
20 min: Nice feet from Sancho, who releases Malen inside the Maccabi box. The Dutchman shoots, which is deflected behind for a corner, the ball completely wrongfooting Mishpati in the visitors’ goal but rolling wide of the post. That could have gone anywhere.
Aston Villa 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
17 min: Brief panic in the Villa defence as Martínez is forced to come out of his area and clear a through ball away with his head, the ball diverting into midfield with Villa’s goal completely untended.
Rangers 0-1 Roma
16 min: Chance for Rangers! Souttar lumps the ball forward and after a defensive mix-up for Roma, the ball breaks kindly for Chermiti, who races through on goal! It’s a tight-ish angle, and Ndicka does well to recover and apply pressure, but Chermiti gets his shot off, shooting juuuuuuuust wide.
GOAL! Rangers 0-1 Roma (Soule 13)
Rangers completely switch off from a Roma corner. Cristante wins a near-post flick on and Soule is completely unmarked at the back post to tap it in. A terrible start for the Scottish side.
Aston Villa 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
7 min: Just as he did in the defeat to Go Ahead Eagles a couple of weeks ago, Victor Lindelof is in at right back for Villa tonight. Maccabi are sitting deep and will look to hit their hosts on the counter attack, and may target the space in behind Lindelof. Osher Davida, on the left wing for Maccabi, is quick.
Aston Villa 0-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
4 min: Some pre-match pyro has meant there is a bit of smoke in the Villa Park air but no sign of any protests inside the ground.
Rangers 0-0 Roma
4 min: It’s a fiery start at Ibrox with both sides surging forward. Roma are in a particular fetching away kit, a gold number with no sponsor. Lovely.
Peeeeeeep!
We are underway in our nine 8pm GMT kick-offs!
Here is what those early results have done to the Europa League standings, with obviously the late games to come. Midtjylland top after their win over Celtic, Rangers bottom.
Six arrests made before Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Avi
Six people have been arrested during protests in Birmingham ahead of Aston Villa’s match with Maccabi Tel Aviv, West Midlands Police said.
The force said a 21-year-old man was arrested for failing to comply with an order to remove a face mask while a 17-year-old boy was arrested for failing to comply with a dispersal order.
Three other people were arrested for racially aggravated public order offences and another person was arrested for breach of the peace. PA Media
Full-time results in early kick-offs: Celtic lose, Forest held 0-0
Some more updates from outside Villa Park, courtesy of PA Media.
Around 200 protesters including members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign gathered near a children’s playpark adjacent to Villa Park’s Trinity Road stand. Palestinian flags and banners calling for a boycott of Israel had also been placed on the ground beside Trinity Road amid pro-Gaza chants.
Police officers briefly formed a cordon to prevent a surge of protesters after an Israeli flag was reportedly waved by a passer-by. Witnesses said the woman was ushered into a side street and spoken to by police before leaving the area.
Five flatbed vehicles were driven past the ground prior to kick-off of the Europa League match, carrying electronic billboards showing messages opposing antisemitism. One of the messages, beside a Star of David, read “Ban hatred not fans” while another carried a quote from Thierry Henry saying football is not about goals but bringing people together.
Villa supporter Adam Selway arrived for the match wearing a half-and-half scarf in the colours of the home side and Maccabi Tel Aviv. The 48-year-old said he was not making any political statement, felt sympathy with fans unable to attend and simply wanted to watch a football match. “It’s not about politics, it’s about football,” he said. “It’s not the Villa fans that don’t want anyone here – the Villa fans want the away fans here.”
If you are wondering why Evan Ferguson, the Brighton striker on loan at Roma, is not in the Italian club’s squad this evening, that is because he is sidelined with injury. However, Ferguson was included in the Republic of Ireland’s squad for the international break next week – decisive World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Hungary – although Ireland’s manager Heimir Hallgrimsson stressed he would only potentially available for the second fixture.
Artem Dovbyk leads the line for Roma tonight.
It’s worth flagging that Rangers are bottom of the Europa League standings – 36th of the 36 teams. They are three games into the eight-game league phase and if the Glasgow side have any chance of clawing their way to the top 24 by the end of it, which would mean they would enter a play-off round to reach the knockout stages, they badly need a result against Roma tonight, no small task.
Rangers were heavily beaten by Brann in their last European game – Danny Röhl’s first game in charge – and also lost to Celtic at the weekend in the Scottish League Cup, although that was with 10 men and in extra time.
Barney Ronay
The man moved on by the police for “breaching the peace” is the 17 year old YouTuber Young Bob. It’s not exactly clear but they seemed to be trying to move him on from broadcasting near the main pro Palestine demonstration using special powers in place for the duration. He was heard talking animatedly to police as they tried to get him to leave the area. He has now been escorted away.
“The best name on the pitch at Villa Park has got to be Roy Revivo, the son of Israeli legend Haim Revivo,” emails Peter Oh. “Arguably even better than Roy of the Rovers.”
Revivo is playing at left back for Maccabi, with Jadon Sancho expected to be his opposite number on the right wing for Villa.
Nine further Europa League matches kicked off at 5.45pm GMT, so those matches are ongoing and into the second half. There are some notable scores:
Bad news for Martin O’Neill and co: Celtic are being battered 3-0 by Midtjylland, who are on course to maintain their 100% record in the Europa League this season. Braga and Lyon, due to kick off at 8pm GMT, are the only other teams that could feasibly stop the Danish side from topping the table come the end of the night.
Nottingham Forest are being held 0-0 by Sturm Graz, the Austrian side that Celtic beat a couple of weeks ago.
Unbeaten in the Portuguese league and top of the table with nine wins and one draw from their first 10 games, Porto on course for another European defeat at Utrecht (following their loss at Forest last month), but former Norwich man Borja Sainz has just scored to make it 1-1 in the Netherlands.
There are about 20 minutes to go in each of these fixtures.
Nick Ames
Just over an hour until kick-off at Villa Park and the scene is relatively calm, although not without a distinct undertone. The police presence here – more than 700 officers from 10 different forces – is vast, a large semi-circle of them stationed in the parkland behind Trinity Road. One woman was led away by police after carrying an Israel flag through the crowds outside; she was targeted by chants from among the numerous pro-Palestine protesters present, although there was no suggestion of any violence. A handful of other Israel flags have also been spotted. Police have been using dispersal orders when faced with the few minor altercations that have arisen so far. The insistent presence of YouTubers and influencers seems to be occupying as much of their time as anything.
Team news (selected)
Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Aston Villa: Martinez, Lindelof, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Bogarde, Onana, Sancho, Rogers, Guessand, Malen.
Subs: Bizot, Oakley, Cash, Barkley, McGinn, Tielemans, Elliott, Buendia, Watkins, Digne, Kamara, Broggio.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv: Mishpati, Asante, Shlomo, Camara, Revivo,
Madmon, Sissokho, Noy, Varela, Peretz, Davida.
Subs: Gerafi, Melika, Heitor, Andrade, Jehezkel, Gropper, Ben Harush, Lederman, Abu Farkhi, Shahar, Ben Hamo, Nicolaescu.
Rangers v Roma
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, Raskin, Meghoma, Moore, Gassama, Chermiti.
Subs: Kelly, Wright, Diomande, Aasgaard, Cornelius, Cameron, Antman, Miovski, Fernandez, Rice, Curtis, Danilo.
Roma: Svilar, Mancini, Hermoso, N’Dicka, Celik, Cristante, El Aynaoui, Tsimikas, Soule, Pellegrini, Dovbyk.
Subs: De Marzi, Gollini, Rensch, Kone, Ziolkowski, Wesley, Romano, Pisilli, Ghilardi, El Shaarawy.
Real Betis v Lyon
Real Betis: Valles, Ruibal, Llorente, Natan, Gomez, Roca,
Fornals, Antony, Lo Celso, Ezzalzouli, Bakambu.
Subs: Adrian, German Garcia, Bellerin, Bartra, Altimira, Avila, Amrabat, Riquelme, Deossa, Hernandez, Ortiz, Pablo Garcia.
Lyon: Greif, Maitland-Niles, Kluivert, Niakhate, Abner Vinicius, de Carvalho, Tessmann, Karabec, Merah, Molebe,
Satriano.
Subs: Descamps, Konan, Tagliafico, Sulc, Afonso Moreira, Mata, Morton, Barisic, Goncalves.
Bologna v Brann
Bologna: Skorupski, Holm, Heggem, Lucumi, Lykogiannis, Moro, Ferguson, Bernardeschi, Fabbian, Cambiaghi, Castro. Subs: Ravaglia, Pessina, Pobega, Orsolini, Rowe, Casale, Zortea, Odgaard, Dallinga, Miranda, Vitik.
Brann: Dyngeland, De Roeve, Helland, Sery Larsen, Dragsnes, Kornvig, Sorensen, Gudmundsson, Mathisen, Finne, Haaland.
Subs: Bramel, Knudsen, Boakye, Hansen, Castro, Soltvedt, Pedersen, Sande, Laegreid, Remmem.
Stuttgart v Feyenoord
Stuttgart: Nubel, Jeltsch, Jaquez, Chabot, Mittelstadt, Andres,
Stiller, Assignon, El Khannous, Tomas, Undav.
Subs: Bredlow, Hellstern, Hendriks, Vagnoman, Fuhrich, Karazor, Leweling, Zagadou, Bouanani, Nartey, Catovic, Jovanovic.
Feyenoord: Wellenreuther, Read, Ahmedhodzic, Watanabe, Smal, Timber, Larin, Valente, Hadj Moussa, Ueda, Borges.
Subs: Berger, Bossin, Nieuwkoop, Sauer, Tengstedt, Diarra, Lotomba, Sliti, Plug, Kraaijeveld, van den Elshout.
Preamble
We are here because we love association football, but sport does not exist in a vacuum. Sometimes it can be caught in the crosshairs of something larger and that is certainly the case tonight.
This is a football liveblog, and we have nine Europa League 8pm GMT kick-offs to follow, of which Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv is one. My focus is on the football but I will also bring you any notable developments around the fringes of Villa Park, should there be any.
In case you are catching up on the controversy around Villa v Maccabi, and the ban on the visiting fans, here is some useful reading, in rough chronological order.
Despite the ban and Maccabi not accepting any tickets, tensions around the match remains high. Villa have warned supporters against displaying political symbols, messages or flags during the match. Protesters stood at the entrance of Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground this week displaying a Palestine flag and a rally scheduled on Thursday in support of Palestine and calling for Israel to be suspended from Uefa and Fifa. Residents local to Villa Park have expressed their anxiety before the match.
On Wednesday evening West Midlands police confirmed section 60 powers will be in place from midday on Thursday until 3am on Friday. Police horses, police dogs and a drone unit will be in use. Schools in Birmingham are closing early amid fears of unrest.
Away from Villa Park, there is eight other late kick-offs to be excited about: especially Rangers v Roma and Real Betis v Lyon. I only have two hands to type but I’ll do my best to keep you abreast of all the goals from around the continent.
