Nottingham Forest squeezed past Midtjylland and into the quarter-finals of the Europa League after a dramatic penalty shoot-out win in Denmark.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, the onus was on Forest to take the game to their hosts and they did that in a dominant first-half that ought to have been rewarded with more than Nicolas Dominguez’s header.
Ryan Yates curled in a brilliant second but Midtjylland hit back through Martin Erlic to take the game to extra-time. Yates thought he had won it late in the additional period, only for his effort to be ruled out, sending the game to penalties.
Forest were flawless with Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Neco Williams all converting. Midtjylland’s first two efforts, from Cho Gue-sung and Aral Simsir, both hit the woodwork before Edward Chilufya skied his effort to send Forest through.
It wasn’t all good news for boss Vítor Pereira, though, as despite making nine changes to his starting XI, he had to call upon the likes of Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson rather than rest them ahead of Sunday’s crunch relegation clash at Tottenham.
Forest dominate despite changes
Despite their domestic woes, Forest started strongly with Dilane Bakwa shooting over after five minutes.
That was the prelude to a first half dominated by the visitors, who moved the ball much quicker than they did in the first leg last week.
Lorenzo Lucca shot straight at home goalkeeper Elias Olafsson before Yates ought to have done better than crash a shot against the bar approaching the half hour mark.
Forest came close again after 33 minutes, former Bournemouth man Philip Billing somehow clearing off the line after Dominguez headed Bakwa’s cross goalwards. Lucca then skied another effort over the bar.
The breakthrough finally arrived shortly after Olafsson had denied James McAtee with another smart save. The goalkeeper could do little, however, when Dominguez’s header looped over him and into the top corner.
Forest doubled their advantage on the night seven minutes after the restart, Yates atoning for his earlier miss with a brilliant left-footed strike from the edge of the area that curled into the corner.
The frustration among the home fans was growing and their mood was not helped when Dominguez appeared to clip Junior Brumado just inside the area but the referee waved away their protests.
Forest changes don’t work as Danes hit back
Pereira rang the changes on the hour mark, bringing on Williams, Gibbs-White and Murillo to add some experience to his side.
The substitutions had the opposite effect, however, and Midtjylland halved the arrears with 20 minutes to go from virtually their first attack of note. A cross from Dario Osorio sparked panic in the Forest area and it eventually fell for Erlic and he finished with aplomb, firing into the roof of the net on the half-volley.
Gibbs-White saw a deflected effort easily saved by Olafsson as the game started to become stretched. At the other end, Stefan Ortega was called into action to block an effort from Denil Castillo.
England international Gibbs-White created another opportunity with five minutes to go. Having driven forward, the midfielder slipped a brilliant ball through for Ola Aina but the full-back’s effort was tipped over the bar by Olafsson.
Aina was also involved in the first talking point of extra-time, his run and pass enabling Lucca to fire home. The Italian finished smartly but the offside flag was already raised after he was nudged into an offside position by a Midtjylland defender.
Substitute Cho then stung the palms of Ortega but it was a relatively quiet period of extra-time until the very end when Yates thought he had won it only to be adjudged offside.
The shoot-out was a disaster for Midtjylland with Ortega not even called upon to make a save. Forest, in contrast, were ruthless and they will now play either Porto or Stuttgart in the quarters.
