Well, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. For Nottingham Forest, this was anything but the meek surrender widely feared, Vítor Pereira’s side advancing to the Europa League quarter-finals after triumphing 3-0 on penalties at Midtjylland, who missed all three spot-kicks. The goalkeeper Elias Ólafsson had celebrated his captain, Mads Bech Sørensen, winning the toss to decide that penalties would be taken in front of the hosts’ most ardent supporters, but it counted for nothing and ultimately Midtjylland, who lost 2-1 on the night, were punished for being lulled into a false sense of security.
Forest stunned the Danish side by earning a 2-0 lead on the night, Nicolás Domínguez’s early header followed by the captain Ryan Yates’s superb strike from distance, before Martin Erlic’s goal sent the game to extra time. After 127 minutes, perfect spot-kicks by the substitutes Morgan Gibbs-White, who entered just after the hour, Ibrahim Sangaré and Neco Williams reignited Evangelos Marinakis’s hopes of Forest achieving European glory. For now, Forest can fret about Sunday’s trip to Tottenham on Friday afternoon’s flight back to East Midlands airport.
Pereira revamped things, as promised, with Nikola Milenkovic and Domínguez, who combined when the latter opened the scoring approaching the interval, the only players to keep their place from Sunday’s frustrating draw at home to Fulham. “I did what I must do,” the Portuguese said and, at that point, the hundreds in the away end could be forgiven for thinking they would exit with a whimper. Saying that, Forest’s starting XI comprised four players who joined at a combined cost of about £140m, plus the January arrival Lorenzo Lucca, who joined with a £31m permanent option.
The travelling fans were anything but short-changed as Forest attacked the hosts from the moment Dilane Bakwa registered the first shot inside two minutes. For a side that had struggled to score of late, particularly at the City Ground, Forest were not devoid of confidence. Pereira recently talked up James McAtee, one of those promoted to the lineup, saying he is capable of magic and here he found joy floating around the space between lines. It was McAtee’s cute, curling pass that released Yates when the Forest captain smacked the crossbar on 26 minutes.
Then came a flurry of Forest chances on the half-hour, three in two minutes. Philip Billing hacked off the line from a Bakwa corner and then, after the centre-back Milenkovic stayed forward in attack, Lucca skied a glorious chance with only Ólafsson in the Midtjylland goal to beat. Yates then sent a clever backward header just wide of goal after Lucca bought a corner.
Midtjylland were rattled and, seemingly happy to absorb sustained Forest pressure, were playing a dangerous game. Forest eventually made them pay, forcing the Danish side to drum up a Plan B. After playing a short corner to Omari Hutchinson, Bakwa curled a deep cross towards the back post, where Milenkovic headed across the six-yard box and a straining Domínguez sent a looping header into the top corner. The Forest fans went ballistic and Domínguez celebrated by bumping chests with Morgan Gibbs-White, among the substitutes warming up on the touchline. It had been coming, at that point Forest 10-1 up on shots, and then Hutchinson sent a tame one at Ólafsson.
The Forest fans were in good voice, singing of Istanbul during the half-time interval. Until Erlic smashed past Ortega midway through the second half, feasting on the loose ball after Sørensen’s cross cannoned off Morato, the goal that looked likely to refuel Forest’s hopes of silverware was a beauty. McAtee drifted infield, sucking three players towards the ball before passing the baton on to Yates, who took the pass on his right foot and then, with his next touch, dispatched a wonderful left-foot shot into the corner beyond Ólaffson from the edge of the D. Yates had the ball in the net again deep into extra time but his 118th-minute header was ruled offside.
Cho Gue-sung, the hero for Midtjylland last week, rattled the post with their first penalty and then Aral Simsir struck the same post with his spot-kick. Edward Chilufya lost his footing and scooped over to allow Forest to prevail on penalties. After trips to Seville, Graz, Utrecht, Braga, Istanbul, now Porto or Stuttgart await in the last eight. Forest’s first visit to Denmark ended in glee.
