Antony''s late equalizer for Real Betis denies Nottingham Forest a win in Europa League

LONDON (AP) — Antony scored a late equalizer to rescue a 2-2 draw for Real Betis against Nottingham Forest in the Europa League on Thursday in the English team's return to European competition after three decades.

Igor Jesus scored two first-half goals to put Forest 2-1 ahead but Antony, the former Manchester United forward, struck five minutes from time to deny the visitors a first win under coach Ange Postecoglou since the former Tottenham manager took over from the fired Nuno Espírito Santo.

Forest reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, the predecessor of the current second-tier competition, in the 1995-96 season but hasn't been back in Europe until now.

Jesus netted his first in the 18th minute, three minutes after Cédric Bakambu put Betis 1-0 up with a high shot from inside the area. Morgan Gibbs-White crossed from the right for the Brazilian forward to tap in the equalizer. Another five minutes later, Jesus surged into the box to head in a second goal in his second competitive start since his transfer from Botafogo in July.

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Postecoglou was fired by Tottenham in June despite winning the Europa League for Spurs' first trophy in 17 years after a season in which they endured their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 17th.

Forest is in the Europa League instead of Crystal Palace, the English FA Cup winner which was demoted by UEFA in a complex case relating to owners having stakes in multiple clubs. Crystal Palace will play the third-tier Conference League.

Protests over Gaza

Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv held PAOK to a 0-0 draw amid a heavy police presence and protests in Thessaloniki.

Maccabi had a first-half goal disallowed due to offside as both sides wasted a number of decent chances to score.

PAOK fans booed Maccabi at the start, waved Palestinian flags and unveiled a big banner near the pitch in the first half which read “Show Israel the Red Card.”

In the other early game, Danish side Midtjylland beat Austria's Sturm Graz 2-0.

Sturm goalkeeper Oliver Christensen's own goal following a corner kick became the first goal of the league phase. Ousane Diao headed home the second close to the end.

Several protesters were detained ahead of the game between PAOK and Maccabi in Thessaloniki.

Two small protests took place in the northern Greek city, calling for Israeli clubs to be expelled from European competition in response to mass casualties in the war in Gaza. Protesters unfurled a banner reading “Genocide” in English from scaffolding on a building complex that also houses the U.S. consulate.

Police conducted a large-scale security operation outside the stadium while while bomb squad sniffer dogs inspected the site.

Some 120 Israeli fans were held held behind a police cordon while the Maccabi team bus was escorted by a police special forces unit to the 28,000-seat Toumba Stadium.

Crowd trouble in Nice

Evan N'Dicka and and Gianluca Mancini struck twice three minutes apart early in the second half as Rome handed Nice a 2-1 home defeat. N'Dicka headed in a corner from substitute Lorenze Pellegrini and Mancini volleyed home a cross from Kostas Tsimikas.

Terem Moffi pulled one back from the spot for the hosts.

Nice's Brazilian captain Dante became the oldest outfield player in the Europa League at age 41 years, 11 months.

More than 100 Roma supporters had been arrested in Nice ahead of the match.

A violent altercation broke out Tuesday night and objects were thrown at police officers, while Nice fans reportedly riled up their Roma counterparts by chanting “there's only Lazio in Rome.” Lazio is Roma's fierce rival in the Italian capital.

The two sets of fans reportedly never came into contact as they couldn't breach the police lines.

Freiburg, Braga win

In other games, Patrick Osterhage struck in the first half and Maximilian Eggestein in the second to earn a 2-1 win for Bundesliga's Freiburg over Swiss champion Basel, while Fenerbahce was beaten 3-1 by Dinamo in Zagreb in its first game in Europe since coach José Mourinho left the club.

Substitute Fran Navarro scored the lone goal and Braga opened its campaign with a 1-0 win over Feyenoord.

Ludogorets upset Malmö 2-1 in Sweden.

More to come

Aston Villa hosts Bologna among the remaining first-round matches on Thursday.

The Europa League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League. Teams play eight different opponents during the league phase and are ranked in a single-standings table.