Villa edge Maccabi in fraught match, bad night for Glasgow clubs

PARIS: Aston Villa beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 in the Europa League on Thursday in a match dominated by tight security measures in Birmingham with travelling fans barred over safety concerns.
Some 700 police were positioned around the stadium as pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters held separate demonstrations outside Villa Park in the run-up to kick-off.
The protests passed largely peacefully, with police saying they made six arrests for offences ranging from racial aggravation to failing to comply with a dispersal order.
On the pitch, Villa took the lead one minute into first-half added time through Ian Maatsen.
Donyell Malen doubled the lead shortly before the hour as Unai Emery's side moved to nine points after four matches.
'(It was a) good evening,' Villa manager Emery told TNT Sports.
'Focus and respecting the competition and the teams. We were playing solidly and playing seriously.'
Elsewhere, Roma won 2-0 at Rangers thanks to first-half strikes by Matias Soule and Lorenzo Pellegrini.
The result moved Gian Piero Gasperini's side up to 18th, while troubled Rangers lounge at the foot of the standings.
In a bad night for Glasgow clubs, Scottish champions Celtic went down 3-1 at Midtjylland.

With four wins in as many outings, the Danes top the league phase standings with a perfect 12 points.
Sean Dyche's second European match in charge at Nottingham Forest finished in a goalless stalemate at Austria's Sturm Graz, with Morgan Gibbs-White missing a 35th-minute spot-kick for the visitors.
The Premier League club sit one point above the elimination places.
Former Manchester United winger Antony netted his 15th goal for Real Betis since joining on loan in January, before making his move permanent in the summer, as the Andalusians beat Lyon 2-0.
Two other French Ligue 1 clubs Nice and Lille lost as well. Nice went down 3-1 at home to second-placed German team Freiburg. Bruno Genesio's Lille fell 1-0 at Red Star Belgrade.
Celta Vigo won 3-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb, while Porto drew 1-1 at 10-man Utrecht of the Netherlands.
Belgium's Genk edged a seven-goal thriller at Braga 4-3 and two late strikes by Bilal El Khannouss and Deniz Undav handed Stuttgart a 2-0 victory over Feyenoord. — AFP
Uefa Europa League results
League phase, matchday four results on Thursday:
League Stage
Basel (SUI) 3 (Shaqiri 19-pen, 73, Salah 88) FCSB (ROM) 1 (Olaru 57)
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 0 Celta Vigo (ESP) 3 (Duran 4, 44, Dominguez 28-og)
Malmo (SWE) 0 Panathinaikos (GRE) 1 (Duricic 85)
Midtjylland (DEN) 3 (Erlic 33, Gogorza 35, Franculino 41) Celtic (SCO) 1 (Hatate 81-pen)
Nice (FRA) 1 (Kevin Carlos 25) Freiburg (GER) 3 (Manzambi 29, Grifo 39-pen, Scherhant 42)
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) 2 (Vertessen 59, Terzic 80) Go Ahead Eagles (NED) 0
Red Star Belgrade (SRB) 1 (Arnautovic 85-pen) Lille (FRA) 0
Sturm Graz (AUT) 0 Nottingham Forest (ENG) 0
Utrecht (NED) 1 (Rodriguez 48) Porto (POR) 1 (Sainz 66)
Aston Villa (ENG) 2 (Maatsen 45+1, Malen 59-pen) Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) 0
Bologna (ITA) 0 Brann (NOR) 0
Ferencvaros (HUN) 3 (Kanichowsky 31, Cadu 53, Joseph 87) Ludogorets (BUL) 1 (Son 78)
PAOK (GRE) 4 (Bianco 54, Giakoumakis 67, Konstantelias 72, Baba 75) Young Boys (SUI) 0
Rangers (SCO) 0 Roma (ITA) 2 (Soule 13, Pellegrini 36)
Real Betis (ESP) 2 (Ezzalzouli 29, Antony 35) Lyon (FRA) 0
Braga (POR) 3 (Zalazar 30, 71, Navarro 86) Genk (BEL) 4 (Heymans 45+2, Sor 48, Oh Hyeon-Gyu 59, Medina 72)
Stuttgart (GER) 2 (El Khannouss 84, Undav 90+1) Feyenoord (NED) 0
Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 0 Fenerbahce (TUR) 0