April 17, (THEWILL) — Nottingham Forest are in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals after defeating Porto 1-0 at the City Ground, with a deflected Morgan Gibbs-White strike in the 12th minute settling a nervy quarter-final second leg.
Nigerian forward Terem Moffi threatened early, only for his dinked effort to be smothered by Stefan Ortega. Porto’s evening worsened in the eighth minute when a VAR review saw Jan Bednarek dismissed for a reckless high challenge on Chris Wood near the halfway line, leaving the visitors to play the majority of the contest with 10 men.
Forest took full advantage of the numerical superiority. Neco Williams released Gibbs-White, and the Forest captain advanced to the edge of the area before his effort deflected off Pablo Rosario and crept past the goalkeeper. Wood, still feeling the effects of the Bednarek foul, was withdrawn shortly after.
Porto rallied in the second half following three half-time substitutions from head coach Francesco Farioli. William Gomes and Alan Varela both rattled the crossbar at crucial moments, with Forest also losing Murillo and Callum Hudson-Odoi to injury during a fraught closing period.
Vitor Pereira’s side held on to advance, setting up an all-English semi-final tie against Aston Villa.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
