Real Betis v Nottingham Forest, Red Star Belgrade v Celtic: Europa League – live

1 week ago 11

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Ah, gowan.

Celtic are the other British side in action tonight. They face Red Star in Belgrade, a match they didn’t want to play. Nothing to do with Red Star, just the competition. Celtic hoped to be in the Champions League again – it’s only seven months since they gave Bayern Munich an almighty scare – but lost to Kairat Almaty in the third qualifying round.

Preamble

Hello, hello and welcome to the Guardian’s dedicated Europa League clockwatch. ~~All~~ Several eyes are on Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville, where Nottingham Forest will play a European fixture for the first time since March 1996. And they are managed by somebody who knows this competition intimately.

It’s rare to see a defence the Europa League in modern football, largely because – and you may not know this because it’s rarely discussed – the winners are rewarded with a place in the Champions League the following season.

The winning team, that is. The winning manager, Ange Postecoglou, was sacked by Spurs and has taken over from Nuno Espirito Santo, who left Nottingham Forest after well, you know. Big Ange’s presence adds another layer of every football writer’s favourite word, narrative, to Forest’s campaign.

For those who usually pay the Europa League no mind, the format is similar to the Champions League: an eight-game league phase, then a playoff, then the round of 16.

Here’s the full list of tonight’s games, with more to come tomorrow. All are 8pm kick-offs apart from the ones with (5.45pm) next to them.