Forest advance to the quarterfinals after a penalty shootout

When Forest coach said that even the weather was against his team in the first game against Midtjylland, he was not joking. The Danish team won in England after Forest’s 22 shots that evening. But the unexpected relegation battle forced Vitor Pereira to focus on Sunday’s ‘game of the season’ against Tottenham so he chose to field out a team with nine changes from his match with Fulham. First-team regulars Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson, Murillo, Igor Jesus, Ola Aina, Matz Sels and Neco Williams were all on the bench in Denmark, while Callum Hudson-Odoi and Taiwo Awoniyi were not in the squad. The return leg pretty much turned into a first game, as Nottingham had all the chances and scored two, and should have at least three more. In the end, the English team made up for that loss and went into the next round but it took them 120 minutes and penalty drama: Midtjylland – Nottingham Forest 1-2 (1-5 after penalties). Midtjylland have won both of their two meetings with Nottingham Forest, both in this season’s Europa League – but they couldn’t do it for the third time, not tonight. The Danish club was not playing well, didn’t create chances and scored from the only opportunity. Due to their score from the first game, even that was good enough for the penalties, but after both Simsir and Cho (the scorer in England) managed to hit the post, and Chilufya tripped and missed the goal completely, it was over for the Danish team.

After 35 minutes of the game, Nottingham already had eight shots on goal and at least two big chances. A ricochet after a corner kick ended with the ball hit Sorensen, sending it towards the goal before it was hacked off the line by Billing. Lorenzo Lucca was all alone in the penalty area in the 31st minute but shanked his effort over the bar. Before and after that Nottingham had other chances too. McAtee played a lovely pass in behind the Midtjylland defence and captain Yates burst onto it, sending a first-time, left-footed volley against the crossbar in the 26th minute. Finally Forest scored in the 40th minute, when Milenkovic raised to head the ball back across the area and Dominguez met it to loop a header of his own into the right corner.

Forest started the second half much better as they scored the second goal very quickly. Yates took one touch, shifting the ball onto this left foot before hammering a shot from 20 meters that flew into the right corner in the 52nd minute. The hosts managed to score one after one hour of play and it was their only shot on target at that point. Forest looked good defensively but a cross into the box dropped for centre-back Erlic and he sent a powerful, left-footed effort high into the net for a 2-2 overall score and overtime. Nothing special happened in overtime as both clubs didn’t create much chances. Yates scored a nice header in the 119th minute but VAR confirmed it was offside and the game went into the penalty shootout, which belonged to the guests. Surprisingly, Midtjylland managed to miss all three penalties.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - ROUND OF 16

Return leg

Wednesday

Braga - Ferencvaros 4-0 (3-0)

/Horta 11, 53, Grillitsch 15, Martinez 34/

Braga win 4-2 on aggregate

Thursday

Freiburg - Genk 5-1 (2-1)

/Ginter 19, Matanovic 25, Grifo 53, Suzuki 56, Eggstein 79 - Smets 39/

Midtjylland - Nottingham Forest 1-2 (0-1) (1-5 after penalty shootout)

/Erlić 69 - Domínguez 40, Yates 52/

Olympique Lyon - Celta (0-0)

/Rueda 61, Jutglà 90+2/

23.00: (1.75) Aston Villa (3.70) Lille (5.40)

23.00: (1.42) Betis (4.80) Panathinaikos (9.00)

23.00: (2.55) Porto (3.30) Stuttgart (2.80)

23.00: (1.80) Roma (3.60) Bologna (5.10)

***odds are subject to change***