Lyon maintained their position at the top of the Europa League standings with a narrow 1-0 victory over Young Boys in Switzerland on Thursday, while Rangers secured a rare win and Nottingham Forest suffered a shock defeat in Braga. Matchday 7 produced drama across Europe with qualification places still up for grabs heading into the final round.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored the only goal as Lyon moved to 18 points from seven matches, keeping them firmly in control at the summit. Young Boys' defeat leaves them in 21st place with nine points, meaning their playoff hopes will go down to the final matchday. Feyenoord kept their qualification dreams alive with an emphatic 3-0 win over Sturm Graz, with goals from Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Anis Hadj Moussa, and Goncalo Borges lifting the Dutch side to 27th place.
Rangers finally tasted victory in the competition as Mohamed Diomande's 33rd-minute strike secured a 1-0 win over Ludogorets at Ibrox. The Scottish giants had been rooted to the bottom of the table with just one point from six games, but this result gives them a lifeline heading into the final matchday. Nottingham Forest's impressive European campaign hit a bump as Ryan Yates' own goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat in Braga, made worse by Elliot Anderson's red card for dissent.
Celta Vigo pulled off a remarkable result, beating Lille 2-1 despite being reduced to ten men when Hugo Sotelo was sent off in the 29th minute. Williot Swedberg opened the scoring within 40 seconds before Carl Starfelt doubled the lead, with Olivier Giroud's late deflected effort proving merely a consolation. Dinamo Zagreb thrashed FCSB 4-1 with Dion Drena Beljo scoring twice, while Salzburg defeated Basel 3-1 to boost their qualification hopes.
PAOK secured a comfortable 2-0 home win over Real Betis through goals from Andrija Zivkovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis, while Crvena Zvezda won 1-0 at Malmo to climb the standings. Freiburg edged past Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-0, and Brann played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Midtjylland. Nice finally registered their first points of the campaign with a 3-1 victory over Go Ahead Eagles. Porto were held to a 1-1 draw by Viktoria Plzen in the Czech Republic.
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