Donyell Malen nets brace for Villa amid fan disturbances in Europa League triumph

Donyell Malen netted twice to guide Aston Villa to a 2-1 victory against Young Boys in a Europa League encounter overshadowed by supporter unrest on Thursday, as Roma snapped Midtjyllands unbeaten run in the league stage.

Malen headed the home side ahead from a Youri Tielemans delivery, yet while marking the moment, he took a hit to the head from an item hurled from the visiting fans area.

The Netherlands forward picked up a minor injury but put it behind him to add a second for Villa, assisted by Morgan Rogers shortly before the interval.

Supporters of Young Boys got into confrontations with officers following that strike, prompting captain Loris Benito to step in and urge calm, which led to a temporary stoppage in proceedings.

Joel Monteiro narrowed the gap in the 90th minute via a fierce shot for Young Boys, though Villa grabbed their fourth success from five fixtures, now second to Midtjylland solely on goals scored.

Midtjylland from Denmark tasted their debut loss in the event, falling 2-1 on the road to top of the Serie A outfit Roma.

The Italian goals arrived courtesy of Neil El Aynaoui and Stephan El Shaarawy, prior to Paulinhos late reply.

Celtic grabbed an important 3-1 success at Feyenoord, recovering from an initial goal by Ayase Ueda.

The champions of Scotland hit back through efforts by Yang Hyun-jun, Reo Hatate, plus replacement Benjamin Nygren, rising into playoff contention with a mere second victory across five ties.

Nottingham Forest will entertain Malmo subsequently, echoing the 1979 European Cup showdown.