Nottingham Forest beat 10-man Porto to set up Europa League semi-final with Aston Villa

[p]The UEL has been a welcome distraction for a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Forest[/a] side firmly in the grip of a Premier League (PL) relegation battle, and the chance to create history here was not lost on a buoyant City Ground crowd.[/p][p]After an early chance for Terem Moffi, momentum soon swayed in the hosts’ favour when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bednarek-jan/l4MMmL5S/"]Jan Bednarek[/a] was shown a straight red card for a high left-footed challenge on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wood-chris/Cp7L7Gro/"]Chris Wood[/a].[/p][p][b]That one-man advantage soon turned into a one-goal advantage, as Morgan Gibbs-White’s effort took a hefty deflection off [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rosario-pablo/E9pRzPPA/"]Pablo Rosario[/a] and flew past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/diogo-costa/hC31Ab0c/"]Diogo Costa[/a].[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/paulo-vitor/QwqYH6Eb/"]Vítor Pereira[/a]’s side were playing with confidence and could have doubled their advantage had [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dominguez-nicolas/A7jPNAQT/"]Nicolas Domínguez[/a] not dragged his shot wide.[/p][p]However, not everything was going to plan, with Wood forced off with injury after feeling the ill-effects of Bednarek’s challenge.[/p][p]His replacement - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/igor-jesus/zPQTw5fe/"]Igor Jesus[/a] - looked lively after entering the fray, and he headed over from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-neco/YVxu86Hs/"]Neco Williams[/a]’ corner, before Domínguez sent a glancing header wide from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ndoye-dan/EmmpFCXN/"]Dan Ndoye[/a]’s cross in first-half stoppage time.[/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="0e7e6bd2-bc9b-41c8-88ff-127d44af8b95" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="a15f1bfa-9fa7-4f2e-93d2-161c5f14de5e" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p]The Tricky Trees were almost made to pay for their first-half profligacy, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/william-gomes/v1KRIiNj/"]William Gomes[/a] rattled the crossbar from deep inside the box after latching onto [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fofana-seko/f5FGGqhC/"]Seko Fofana[/a]’s lofted delivery.[/p][p]Forest’s lead was still looking threadbare, and Pereira was forced into two more changes, taking off injured duo [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hudson-odoi-callum/dtU5eexQ/"]Callum Hudson-Odoi[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/murillo/40Vyq1xR/"]Murillo[/a].[/p][p]The hosts were not playing with the same intensity, but Costa was called into action to parry away Jesus’s angled strike.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/varela-alan/0fZ4tEA5/"]Alan Varela[/a] shredded the hosts’ nerves further when his speculative attempt cannoned off the bar, but Francesco Farioli’s side couldn’t find the breakthrough on a frustrating night for the visitors.[/p][p]Ultimately, Forest had done enough to secure a European semi-final berth for the first time since overcoming Sturm Graz in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup quarter-finals.[/p][p]A tantalising all-PL last-four clash with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]Aston Villa[/a] awaits, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/fc-porto/S2NmScGp/"]Porto[/a] bow out having still yet to beat a PL team in England after 24 attempts (D3, L21). [/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gibbs-white-morgan/beZNT1bB/"]Morgan Gibbs-White[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Nottingham Forest[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/fc-porto-S2NmScGp/nottingham-UsushcZr/?mid=ve27R6OM"]Click here to see all the stats of the match.[/a][/b][/p][embed guid="66596f35-b24b-484f-b1f0-eff0c4e5c2f2" url="https://x.com/NFFC/status/2044883874421882924" social-type="twitter" /]