Category: UEFA Europa League

Chris Wood’s second-half penalty gave Forest a narrow to lead to take into next week’s second leg at Villa Park

Villa, on the other hand, are more likely to build through the middle. They’ll condense the play and look for quick interchanges, Ollie Watkins attacking the space in behind – especially in the absence of Murillo – with Emi Buendia in particular but also John McGinn looking to feed him in.

And as Gibbs-White does for Forest, so Rogers will do for them, mooching about dropping grenades, while Youri Tielemans will look to conduct from deep and arrive on the edge of the box to hit shots.

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Before Nottingham Forest face Aston Villa in the Europa League, we look at seven other all-English semi-final clashes in Europe

There can be few more enjoyable feelings for an away player than to silence Anfield. Billy Bremner did so in the first leg of this tie when he headed home unmarked to score what turned out to be the only goal across 180 minutes of action. John Toshack tried to respond but his shot was blocked on the line as Leeds’ fearsome defence defied Liverpool. “If you miss chances like we did, you do not deserve to win,” Bill Shankly said. The clubs were at the top of their game under Shankly and Don Revie and Liverpool had defeated Leeds in the 1965 FA Cup final after extra time, creating a heated rivalry. Bremner had struggled badly with injury in the 1970-71 season and was made to prove his fitness in a friendly against Bradford the day before the match at Anfield, something modern sports scientists would not suggest but which clearly worked. He was recalled to the lineup and ignited Leeds’ charge to winning the trophy. They beat Juventus on away goals in the final.

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While Unai Emery’s side are hoping to right past wrongs, their opponents are a serious threat under Vítor Pereira

It is eight years since Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest played out a Championship classic, a topsy-turvy 5-5 draw at Villa Park in which Tammy Abraham got four goals. John McGinn was also in the Villa side and Matty Cash scored to earn Forest a 3-2 lead with 22 minutes on the clock, before more drama ensued. Forest were reduced to 10 men but Lewis Grabban, who played for Villa the previous season, struck the final goal to earn a point.

It is the first top-flight meeting between the teams this millennium; however, that goes some way to telling the story of these sides, particularly Villa’s stealth. It was three and a half years ago, a couple of weeks before Unai Emery took the reins at Villa, and a glance at the teamsheet speaks volumes for the stability that has underpinned his success. Eight of Villa’s starting XI for that 1-1 draw could start against Forest on Thursday, when the Midlands clubs meet at the City Ground for the first instalment of an enticing all-Premier League Europa League semi-final. While there have been plenty of all-English finals, it is the first major European semi-final between English sides since Manchester United overcame Arsenal in the Champions League in 2009.

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Morgan Gibbs-White scored the only goal against a resilient ten-man Porto, as Forest reached their first European semi-final for 42 years

4 min: Sangare releases Gibbs-White down the right. Promising for Forest … until the whistle goes, Sangare having come through the back of Alberto Costa on the touchline. The correct decision, if annoyingly belated from a Forest point of view, everyone all excited for a second.

2 min: It’s an absolutely belting atmosphere, both sets of fans giving it plenty. But Porto nearly quieten the home fans in short order, Moffi latching onto a prod down the inside-right channel and attempting to flick past Ortega. The Forest keeper swipes away. The rebound falls to William Gomes, who blazes over. Yikes.

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A ludicrous Martim Fernandes own goal allowed Nottingham Forest to leave Porto level going into the second leg

Thiago Silva is at the back for Porto, at a very young 41. He must ruddy love football. I would have been a deck chair long ago. It is, however, nice to know there are still a few active footballers who are older than me.

This is relevant, in many ways, to this game.

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Plus: teams who went out of Europe without losing a game, and rare competitive meetings

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“What’s the furthest a team has gone in Europe while being relegated in the same season?” wonders Matt Reilly.

This question was probably asked in reference to Tottenham, who were still in the Champions League at the time, but it’s still relevant to some of this year’s quarter-finalists. Nottingham Forest are three points above the relegation places in the Premier League; Fiorentina only have a five-point cushion in Serie A.

Real Zaragoza 2001-02, first round; 2007-08, first round

Alaves 2002-03, second round

Celta Vigo 2006-07, last 16

Real Zaragoza 2007-08, first round

Real Betis 2013-14, last 16

Espanyol 2019-20, last 32

Blackburn Rovers 1998-99, Uefa Cup first round

Bradford City 2000-01, Intertoto semi-final

Ipswich Town 2001-02, Uefa Cup third round

Ruda Hvezda Brno 1960-61, Cup Winners’ Cup

Dynamo Zilina 1961-62, Cup Winners’ Cup

Espanyol 1961-62. Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Napoli 1962-63, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bayern Munich 1962-63, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

1. FC Magdeburg 1965-66, Cup Winners’ Cup

Lyn 1968-69, Cup Winners’ Cup

Beroe Stara Zagora 1973-74, Cup Winners’ Cup

Real Betis 1977-78, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bologna 1990-91, Uefa Cup

First round Artmedia Bratislavia (2-2 away, 3-1 home)

Group stage Sparta Prague (2-0 away), Zulte Waregem (6-2 home), Ajax (2-0 away), Austria Wien (1-0 home)

Last 32 Livorno (2-1 away, 2-0 home)

Last 16 Maccabi Haifa (0-0 away, 4-0 home)

Quarter-final Benfica (3-2 home, 0-0 away)

Semi-final Werder Bremen (3-0 home, 2-1 away)

Final Sevilla 2-2 (1-3 pens)

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John McGinn and Leon Bailey scored the goals that eased Villa into the quarters

2 min: … but that was a fast start by Villa, and they’ve clearly been told to get right into Lille during the early exchanges. They’re first to everything at the moment. Small sample size, admittedly.

1 min: Abraham gets lively quickly. He steals the ball off a snoozing Bouaddi and feeds McGinn down the inside-left channel. McGinn attempts something spectacular from distance. It doesn’t come off, dribbling harmlessly wide right.

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Forest made their first European quarter-final in 30 years, wining 2-1 on the night and 3-0 on penalties to set up a last-eight meeting with either Porto or Stuttgart

Question: what is the exact thing the Premier League – and wider world of football – does not need?

Answer: this.

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Nottingham Forest seek to overturn a one-goal Europa League deficit against a familiar foe who were early champions of the set piece

“I like a bit of chaos and structure both on and off the pitch,” says Midtjylland’s technical director, Kristian Kjær. “Getting the right mix is most important.” Perfecting this balance has enabled the Danish side to thrive in Europe, powered by a global recruitment model and innovation.

Nottingham Forest travel to the MCH Arena on Thursday seeking to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, having also lost to Midtjylland in the group stage this season. This is the furthest the Danish club, founded in 1999, have progressed in Europe. “It must have been insane to be starting the club [just over] 25 years ago and then see where we are today,” says Kjær. “What a ride.”

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A second-half header from Ollie Watkins gave Villa a one-goal lead going into next week’s second leg

So where is the game? Well, Villa will look to get Rogers on the ball, coming inside off the left. He won’t keep the width in attack, which’ll be supplied by Lucas Digne; rather, he’ll wander about in the inside-left half-space looking to get shots off. Otherwise, Buendia will slip balls down the sides of the centre-backs for Ollie Watkins, while Amadou Onana and Douglas Luiz look to bottle up the middle of the pitch in front of the defence.

Tangentially, the kit Keown wore when he started at Villa is an absolute jazzer.

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Two goals from Kerem Akturkoglu put Forest under pressure, but Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal calmed things and they saw out a 4-2 aggregate win

On the telly, they’ve just been discussing James McAtee, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he does tonight. City are now in that spot United were under Alex Ferguson, where clubs buy their players because they know the standard can be too high for good ones to make it and respect the managers who keep them around. He’s got a lovely touch and decent vision, but does he have the ability to impose that? We don’t yet know.

Forest actually did pretty well to keep as many players as they did after last season – and getting £52m+£3m for Anthony Elanga was a remarkable piece of business. I’m not sure Anderson will still be around after the summer, whereas Gibbs-White has a contract – but there surely comes a point at which players don’t trust Marinakis with their careers and just want to up sticks from the upheaval.

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Goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and Morgan Gibbs-White give Vitor Pereira a winning start as Forest head coach

I was at Dyche’s final game in charge and Omari Hutchinson was underwhelming, to say the least. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to the new regime.

Pereira: “Today is three days working. but working to play in a way to try short communications, be very clear. Today I hope that I see my team play organised with tactical organisation, and be able to express themselves, play with courage and a mentality to win.”

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• Nineteen-year-old fires winner to give Villa 3-2 win

• Rangers’ poor campaign ends with 3-1 loss to Porto

The 19-year-old Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba was the hero as Aston Villa came from two goals down to beat Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 at Villa Park, though they lost Ollie Watkins to injury in the first half.

Jimoh-Aloba hit the winner with three minutes remaining, tucking Kadan Young’s low cross into the corner to cap a fightback that looked unlikely after a limp showing for an hour.

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Aston Villa hit back from two down to beat Salzburg, Nottingham Forest thrashed Ferencvaros and Celtic secured a playoff place

“Villa feel like a proper club again,” says your roving reporter Martin Keown at Villa Park. Not sure what “proper” means there, but OK.

“They can win the Premier League. Everyone’s saying they can’t.”

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In a tumultuous campaign and three-way Scottish title fight, the 73-year-old manager still has ambitions on the European stage

Martin O’Neill’s involvement in celebrated European moments in Celtic’s history means he is entitled to bridle at the belief that domain is no longer a priority. O’Neill used pre-match media duties for the Europa League visit of Utrecht on Thursday to point towards what has the potential to be an uplifting few days for the Scottish champions.

“We got a result in Feyenoord and fought our guts out in Bologna,” he said. “We don’t now want to just throw it away. We want to try and go for it if we can. We could still lose the game. We might not win the match and we might go out of the competition, but we want to give it a go.

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