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Europa League Winners and Losers from Matchday 3: Villa and Lille Stunned, Dyche’s Forest Beat Porto

Sushan Chakraborty Written by Sports EditorSushan Chakraborty
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Europa League Winners and Losers from Matchday 3: Villa and Lille Stunned, Dyche’s Forest Beat Porto

Sean Dyche scored a morale-boosting debut win on Thursday night, leading struggling Nottingham Forest to a 2-0 victory over FC Porto in the Europa League.Β 

Aston Villa, who were on a five-game winning run across competitions, meanwhile, lost to Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles. As a result, they dropped out of the safety of automatic qualification.

Lille, Roma, and Rangers also lost, while Celtic bagged a narrow victory.

Europa League Matchday 3 Results

Home team Score Away team
Red Bull Salzburg 2–3 Ferencvaros
Fenerbahce 1–0 VfB Stuttgart
FCSB 1–2 Bologna
Go Ahead Eagles 2–1 Aston Villa
Genk 0–0 Real Betis
Lyon 2–0 Basel
Braga 2–0 Red Star Belgrade
Brann 3–0 Rangers
Feyenoord 3–1 Panathinaikos
Roma 1–2 Viktoria Plzeň
Young Boys 3–2 Ludogorets Razgrad
Celtic 2–1 Sturm Graz
Lille 3–4 PAOK
Maccabi Tel Aviv 0–3 Midtjylland
Malmo FF 1–1 Dinamo Zagreb
Nottingham Forest 2–0 Porto
Celta Vigo 2–1 Nice
SC Freiburg 2–0 Utrecht

Europa League Winners and Losers from Matchday 3

Winners from Europa League Matchday 3

Sean Dyche and Nottingham Forest

Making his debut, new Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche managed to lead the team to a win, something Ange Postecoglou failed to do in his short eight-match spell. Postecoglou may not be off the hot seat for long, as next Celtic manager betting odds have him as one of the favourites to take charge of the Scottish club.

At City Ground, Forest beat Porto 2-0 on Thursday night, with both of their goals coming from the penalty spot.

Morgan Gibbs-White converted from the penalty spot in the 19th minute after Jan Bednarek handled the ball inside the area. In the final 15 minutes of the game, Nicolo Savona won another penalty for Forest.

Igor Jesus found the netting from 12 yards to make it 2-0 for the home side. The 2-0 victory marked Palace’s first clean sheet in 21 games, since they beat Manchester United 1-0 in April.

Dyche, who has a reputation for playing pragmatic football, brought Forest back to a four-man backline. He added more steel by guarding the defence with the pairing of Douglas Luiz and Elliot Andersen.

Unlike Postecoglou, who wanted his team to hold a high line and maintain intensity, Dyche brought counter-attack back. The team looked more comfortable and had the energy to fend off Porto in the closing minutes of the game.

The team had 51% possession, took three shots on target, and finished with an xG of 2.09. It will be interesting to see how much this result benefits them when they face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.

Feyenoord

Having lost their previous two Europa League matches without scoring, Feyenoord hosted Greek side Panathinaikos on Thursday night. The Eredivisie leaders had a disastrous start, as the visitors pulled ahead from Karol Swiderski’s rebound in the 18th minute.

Robin van Persie’s side played scrappy football, but they got the equaliser in the first half itself. Deep into injury time, Givairo Read coolly slotted in Aymen Sliti’s cross from close range.

Feyenoord picked up right where they left off, pulling in front for the first time on the night in the 55th minute. Anis Hadj Moussa dribbled deep into the Panathinaikos box before sending the ball beyond Bartlomiej Dragowski.

Having survived a few scares, Feyenoord finally killed the game in the 90th minute, as Cyle Larin scored shortly after coming on. After the defeats against Braga (1-0) and Aston Villa (2-0), Thursday’s result brought Feyenoord’s Europa League campaign back on track. They are still in the elimination zone (25th), but they now have the same points as Panathinaikos, Roma, and FC Basel.

Brann

Norwegian side Brann hosted Scottish giants Rangers in Gameweek 3 of the 2025/26 Europa League season. Owing to Rangers’ poor defensive organisation, Brann found space with ease and made inroads into Gers’ box time and again. Their dominance paid dividends in the 40th minute, as Bard Finne’s pass/shot took a deflection and fell nicely for Emil Kornvig to tap in.

Rangers’ first half was poor, and things only went downhill in the second half. Ten minutes into the half, Brann won a free-kick. Finne’s delivery into the box was perfect, and Jacob Sorensen easily beat Rangers’ marking to make it 2-0.

Brann kept the pressure on and got their third goal of the game in the 79th minute. Miscommunication inside the Rangers’ box allowed Noah Holm to take a shot. Jack Butland was positioned well, but the ball still went through him.

Franculino

Eyeing their third consecutive victory, FC Midtjylland visited TSC Arena for their clash with Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday. The visitors were the favourites to secure maximum points, and Franculino single-handedly led the charge.

In the 44th minute, Victor Bak Jensen sent an inviting cross into the box for Franculino. The winger brought the ball under control with his first touch before firing a powerful shot with his second.

Philip Billing doubled the visitors’ advantage in the 71st minute, practically sealing the game. Franculino put the cherry on top 13 minutes later, applying a low finish with his left foot from just inside the area.

The brace took the Guinea-Bissau international’s tally to 14 goals in 21 games this season.

Franculino also won five duels, drew two fouls, and made four recoveries to help Midtjylland climb to the top of the Europa League rankings.

Losers from Europa League Matchday 3

Aston Villa

In-form Premier League side Aston Villa were eying a sixth straight win as they faced Go Ahead Eagles in Europa League Gameweek 3. Unai Emery’s side enjoyed a strong start and got their noses in front in the fourth minute. Evann Guessand latched on to Jadon Sancho’s deflected cross and somehow bundled the ball over the line.

Guessand should have made it 2-0 as Emiliano Buendia sent him through on goal. The winger kept it on target but could not beat the goalkeeper. Ollie Watkins also had an opportunity to score, but his poor run of form continued, as his only on-target effort could not trouble the goalkeeper.

In the 42nd minute, Go Ahead Eagles levelled the score, thanks to their successful free-kick routine and a fortunate deflection. Despite the equaliser, Aston Villa were the overwhelming favourites to win at 69.4% heading into the second half.

Go Ahead Eagles made a fool of the predictions just past the hour mark as Joris Kramer and Mats Deijl combined to make it 2-1 for the hosts. Deijl superbly controlled Krame’s delivery before chipping the ball over the onrushing Emiliano Martinez.

In the 77th minute, Buendia could have restored parity from the penalty spot. But the attacking midfielder made a complete mess of the spot kick, sending it well over and outside the frame of the goal.

Villa completely dominated possession, finishing with 70%, and had seven attempts on target compared to just three for Go Ahead Eagles. But they were wasteful in front of the goal and ultimately paid the price.

Ollie Watkins

Emiliano Buendia will probably get the majority of the flak for missing the penalty kick. However, if we had to pick a player who disappointed the most, we are afraid Ollie Watkins takes the cake.

The Englishman was practically a passenger for the 66 minutes he spent on the pitch. He completed eight passes, had three shots, only one of which landed on target, and missed a big chance. He also lost all four of his duels, lost possession twice, and had only five touches inside the box.

Watkins is already under the microscope after scoring just once in eight Premier League matches. The display on Thursday did not do him any favours.

Danny Rohl

The Danny Rohl era started on the worst possible note, as the Rangers lost 3-0 to Brann. Appointed on Monday, Rohl said he would prioritise results over aesthetics. Unfortunately for Rangers, they neither played well nor looked good against Brann.

Emil Kornvig’s 40th-minute opener was hard on the visitors, as a deflection caught Jack Butland wrong-footed. However, Jacob Sorensen and Noah Holm’s goals did not involve any luck. They were down to the Rangers’ poor defensive shape and miscommunication.

After the 3-0 defeat, Rangers find themselves in the bottom place of the Europa League rankings. With some tough games coming their way, Europa League survival looks unlikely.

Rohl’s debut display did not have any positives. The Gers were second to every ball, were often out-muscled, and lacked composure when on the ball. Over the course of the game, Rangers had just one shot on target and finished with an xG of 1.27. Brann, meanwhile, had five on target to take their xG to 2.33.

After the match, Rohl said he had learnt a lot from the game. It will be interesting to see if he can use said learnings to good effect when Kilmarnock come to Ibrox this weekend.

Lille

Eyeing to extend their perfect Europa League run, French side Lille hosted PAOK Thessaloniki on Matchday 3. Against a team languishing well below automatic qualification, Lille were expected to just breeze past.

However, they were in for a rude awakening, as PAOK took the fight to them early on. Andrija Zivkovic laid the ball off to Soualiho Meite just outside the box. The midfielder found the net with a clinical strike from a fair way out.

Things went from bad to worse for Lille, as Zivkovic and Giannis Konstantelias made it 3-0 for the visiting team even before half time.

Lille began mounting a comeback in the second half, as Benjamin Andre and Hamza Igamane scored to make it 3-2. Just as the momentum was shifting, Zivkovic made it 4-2, practically killing the game.

Igamane scored another goal for Lille, but it could not instigate a turnaround.

Sushan Chakraborty Written by Sports EditorSushan Chakraborty
Sushan Chakraborty has been writing professionally since debuting with 90min in 2017. He has since typed out thousands of articles, learning the trade from some of the smartest minds in the business. Now at Sportscasting, he is striving to whip up his best articles yet.
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