JAKARTA - Nottingham Forest made a surprise by eliminating Porto and advancing to the Europa League semifinals. Forest ensured qualification for the top four to face fellow English Premier League team Aston Villa after defeating 10 Porto players 1-0 in the second leg of the quarterfinal at the City Ground Stadium, Friday, April 17, 2026 early morning WIB.
Porto had to play with 10 people from the start of the match. That's why defender Jan Bednarek made a fatal mistake after his knee caught striker Chris Wood. As a result, Wood suffered an injury that made him undergo treatment. Not only that, Wood was then pulled out to be replaced by Igor Jesus.
Meanwhile, Bednarek was given a red card after the referee reviewed the incident via VAR. The red card during the match only lasted eight minutes, leaving Porto in a state of confusion. It turned out that just a few minutes later, Forest, who was still struggling at the bottom of the English League standings, ranked 16th, managed to break into Porto's goal.
The goal was scored by Morgan Gibbs-White after his kick hit the opponent and then slid into the Porto goal. When celebrating the goal, Gibbs-White showed the jersey of Forest player, Elliot Anderson, who was absent in the match because his mother died. He and his teammates showed support and respect for Anderson who was grieving.
After taking a 1-0 lead, Forest actually had trouble increasing the lead. On the other hand, Porto tried to catch up with the goal deficit. In fact, the visiting team almost equalized through William Gomes in the second half. Only Gomes' close-range shot still failed.
Furthermore, substitute Alan Varela also almost scored for Porto towards the end of the match. But his kick still hit the crossbar.
The score remained 1-0 for Forest so the match ended. The result made Forest win 2-1 on aggregate. This is because in the first match, the two-time Champions Cup [now the Champions League] champions drew 1-1.
In the semi-finals, Forest, who played in European competitions for the first time since 1996 when they appeared in the UEFA Cup, met Aston Villa, who eliminated Bologna after winning 4-0 in the second leg. The big win gave Villa an aggregate lead of 7-1.
"The club and the fans deserve it [the success of qualifying for the semi-finals]. I have a fantastic team. They showed great spirit, character and quality," said manager Vitor Pereira, who refused to comment on the match against Villa in the semi-finals.
"It's too much if I'm thinking about Villa right now. It's better if I think about Burnley [in the Premier League] which we will face this weekend," he said.
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