Nottingham Forest dominate shoot-out as Midtjylland miss all penalties

It clearly pains Vítor Pereira, the Nottingham Forest head coach, that the club’s place in the Europa League has ultimately become a hindrance in their bid for Premier League survival, but with a visit to Tottenham Hotspur fast approaching, prioritising their top-flight status has become a non-negotiable.

Yet no one had to convince his heavily rotated side of the scale of the opportunity before them — to reach a European quarter-final, in which they will now play Porto, for the first time in 30 years.

They were forced into a mammoth battle away against Midtjylland, where after deservedly clawing back the one-goal deficit from the first leg, one moment of complacency meant the tie went the distance in Denmark.

Forest felt every emotion in a tough, physical affair and even had two goals ruled out for offside during extra time, but when it came to the penalty shootout, things could not have been easier.

Forest only needed to take three spot kicks to continue their journey — Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangaré and Neco Williams all converting — as Midtjylland failed to hit the target with any of their own, striking the post twice before Edward Chilufya slipped as he took their third penalty.

“When we win it’s different, the spirit is different, the energy is different,” Pereira said. “The boys deserve it because they are a fantastic group. Very good players with team spirit, character and we showed everything today.”

Pereira made nine changes to the side who drew against Fulham, but they were creative and aggressive going forward from the start. Ryan Yates latched on to an excellent pass from James McAtee but could only rattle the crossbar with his effort.

A cross swung deep towards the back post allowed Forest to finally make the breakthrough, Nikola Milenkovic heading back across goal for Nicolás Domínguez, who flicked a looping header into the far corner. Yates gave them an aggregate lead soon after half-time, striking left-footed through a crowd to find the goal.

Despite looking comfortable, Forest let it slip. They failed to deal with a dangerous cross, and when it bounced off the chest of Morato, Martin Erlic instinctively fired high into the net.

Things become frantic after that. The football was end to end and physical, with extra time only bringing more of the same. Elliot Anderson seemed to be involved in every tussle and eventually picked up a booking that means he will miss the first leg of the quarter-final.

In the dying moments of extra time, Yates thought he had become the hero once more but VAR ruled out his ­header for offside, sending the match to penalties.

Midtjylland (3-4-3): E Olafsson — O Diao (A Gabriel 90min), M Erlic, M Bech — V Byskov (Lee Han-beom 46), P Bravo, P Billing (A Simsir 46), V Bak Jensen — D Castillo, J Brumado (Cho Gue-sung 56), D Osorio (E Chilufya 103). Booked Brumado, Osorio, Bravo, Erlic.

Nottingham Forest (3-4-2-1) S Ortega — Z Abbott, N Milenkovic (Murillo 61), Morato — D Ndoye (N Williams 61), R Yates, N Domínguez ( I Sangaré 90), D Bakwa (O Aina 75) — O Hutchinson (M Gibbs-White 61), J McAtee (E Anderson 75) — L Lucca. Booked Murillo, Anderson.

Referee F Zwayer (Ger).

McGinn lifts Holte End as Villa turn on the style

Oh, how they’ve missed him. The cheer when his name was read out before kick-off was loud enough, but when John McGinn capped Aston Villa’s magnificent break with a sweeping finish in front of the Holte End, the noise around Villa Park was glorious (Hamzah Khalique-Loonat writes).

Emiliano Martínez, for his playmaking role in the goal, sprinted to his team-mates, while McGinn raised his fingers to his eyes in his trademark goggles celebration.

What’s that he’s spotted? A quarter-final showdown against Bologna, no less, and Villa will fancy their chances. Their game-management here was superb and when they had the opportunity to counterattack in the second half, they looked razor sharp. With McGinn starting his first home game after returning from injury, Villa look like they did earlier this season: organised, opportunistic and wily.

Villa, as they often do under Unai Emery, steadily eased their way into the game. The Spaniard is a master in this competition, which he has won four times, and prefers to keep things tight at either end in the opening half, before dialling up the pressure after the break.

The visitors, trailing by a goal on aggregate, were kept at arm’s length, apart from when Ayyoub Bouaddi headed a cross inside the penalty area in the 20th minute. But given the ease both teams had in knocking the ball around, it felt like they were content to bide their time.

Jadon Sancho showed his usual trickery, but Lille’s defensive five proved difficult to deconstruct — Villa’s best chances in open play came as Morgan Rogers passed forward quickly from the No 10 pocket, but his balls to Sancho and Tammy Abraham were too heavy and dealt with by Berke Özer, Lille’s goalkeeper. Amadou Onana tested Özer with a well-directed header from a corner late in the first half, and Sancho’s attempt from the rebound was blocked.

Lille started the second half well, with neat combinations on either side as Villa were forced deep, but just as the visitors felt like they had superiority, Villa delivered the sweetest of suckerpunches: Martínez held a shot by Nabil Bentaleb, and Sancho sprinted into the opposition half. The goalkeeper delivered a gorgeous flat kick and the winger took it in his stride with pace.

As Sancho reached the penalty area, he chopped inside with his instep, taking him past Félix Correia. Sancho squared to McGinn, who was running from deep on the left side, and he met it, sweeping it into the far corner.

Olivier Giroud, the Lille captain, believed he had scored when he connected sweetly with a bouncing ball and beat Martínez at the near post, only for the offside flag to deny him.

Villa threatened repeatedly on the break: substitute Ollie Watkins shot marginally wide of the post, while Sancho struck the opposite one. Sancho sparkled as the game progressed. A roulette turn inside his own half was a sign that he and Villa felt in their element — and this was confirmed when Leon Bailey tapped in Villa’s second on the break.

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): E Martínez — L Bogarde (M Cash 74min), V Lindelof, P Torres, I Matsen — A Onana, D Luiz — J Sancho (L Bailey 84), M Rogers (H Elliott 84), J McGinn (E Buendía 74) – T Abraham (O Watkins 56). Booked Luiz.

Lille (3-4-2-1): B Ozer — N Ngoy, C Mbemba, A Ribeiro (A Mandi 73) — T Meunier (T Santos 81), A Bouaddi (H A Haraldsson 66), N Bentaleb, R Perraud — N A Mukau (M Fernandez-Pardo 66), F Correia (N Edjouma 66) — O Giroud. Booked Correia.

Referee D Massa (Ita).

Profligate Palace taken the distance

AEK Larnaca 1 Crystal Palace 2 (Palace win 2-1 on aggregate)

After 210 minutes of huff and puff, opposition fans hurling cups, two red cards and a cornucopia of missed chances, Crystal Palace went through to the Conference League last eight (Kit Shepard writes).

They nearly messed it up. Oliver Glasner’s side dominated both legs against AEK Larnaca but lacked potency yet again, meaning only Ismaila Sarr’s extra-time winner separated the sides. Fiorentina await Palace next.

After Sarr had given Palace an early lead, tame defending at a corner allowed Enric Saborit to level in the 63rd minute. Sarr eventually scored again in the 99th minute, but the striker should have had four or five.

Palace also failed to restore their lead until after a red card for Saborit in the 79th minute, and Larnaca stayed in the contest until the end. An ugly finale included Larnaca having huge penalty appeals correctly rejected, fans responding by throwing cups towards Palace’s goalkeeper Walter Benítez, and a red card for Larnaca’s Petros Ioannou.

Palace had threatened to enjoy a routine night. In the 13th minute, Sarr rounded Zlatan Alomerovic, Larnaca’s eager goalkeeper, before tapping home.

Larnaca had to push forward and they levelled from a corner just after the hour mark. Saborit rose above Chris Richards to head past Benítez, who was standing in for the unwell Dean Henderson for the second straight game.

Larnaca duly sat back again, and dropped even deeper after Saborit’s red. The defender, booked earlier for cynically tugging Sarr, earned a second yellow for hauling down the same player.

In extra time, Sarr made a mess of a header but made no mistake when Daichi Kamada picked him out with a low cross after a short corner. Sarr and Jorgen Strand Larsen hit the woodwork within seconds of each other.

The decision not to award Larnaca a penalty for handball against Jean-Philippe Mateta — the ball had struck his thigh — triggered an extraordinary finale, featuring Benítez dodging cups, Ioannou seeing red for a challenge on Mateta, and Sarr somehow hitting a post again after Alomerovic was caught upfield to leave him with an open goal.

After all the chaos, Glasner’s hopes of bidding farewell to Palace with one more trophy remain alive.

Click here to read article