Europa League: Antony rescues Betis to deny Forest

New Delhi: Antony's late equaliser enabled Real Betis pull off a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest in the Europa League.

On their return to European competition after three decade, Forest led led till the 85th minute through Igor Jesus scored two first-half goals.

But former Manchester United forward Antony denied them a first win under coach Ange Postecoglou, since he replaced Nuno Espirito Santo.

Forest last played in European competitions in 1995-96 season, when they reached quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, the predecessor of the current second-tier tournament.

They conceded in the 15th minute as Cedric Bakambu blasted in the roof of the net from inside the penalty box but responded within three minutes to pull level.

Jesus slotted in from inside six yards Morgan Gibbs-White crossed from the right and five minuted later surged into the box to head Forest in.

They held on to their lead for the majority of the action till Antony converted cross from the left with his right foot.

Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv played out a goalless draw with PAOK amid intense security mesured and crowd protests.

Maccabi struck in the first-half goal but it was ruled offside as both sides spurned a number of good chances to score.

PAOK fans unveiled a big banner that read "Show Israel the Red Card”, booed Maccabi and waved Palestinian flags.

In another game, Danish side Midtjylland defeated Austria's Sturm Graz 2-0 while AS Roma rode own second half goals from Evan N'Dicka and Gianluca Mancini to beat Nice 2-1.

Patrick Osterhage and Maximilian Eggestein were on target as German side Freiburg beat Swiss champion Basel, while Turkey's Fenerbahce went down 3-1 to Dinamo in Zagreb.

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Braga opened their campaign with a 1-0 win over Feyenoord as Ludogorets upset Malmo 2-1 in Sweden.

In La Liga, Julian Alvarez’s hat-trick handed Atletico Madrid a thrilling 3-2 comeback win over Rayo Vallecano.