Midtjylland 1-2 Nottingham Forest (2-2 agg): Erlic 69; Dominguez 40, Yates 52
Nottingham Forest may have their demons to face in a relegation battle in the Premier League, but here in Denmark they excited fans with a penalty shootout win to knock out Midtjylland and proceed to the Europa League last eight.
The Danish side suffered a complete meltdown from the spot, missing all three of their attempts as Forest’s flawless takers secured a 3-0 shoot-out victory. Perhaps Vitor Pereria can get his side to channel some of that energy into a survival final against Tottenham on Sunday.
Cho Gue-sung, hero of the first leg for Midtjylland, cracked his penalty against the post, and teammates Aral Simsir and Edward Chilufya equally missed, the former also hitting the post while the latter slipped and fired his shot harmlessly over the crossbar. Meanwhile, Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Neco Williams all found the net for Forest.
Pereira had gambled by making nine changes from the weekend draw with Fulham, Murillo, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White and Ibrahim Sangare all among the big hitters who sat on the bench. It was entirely reasonable for Pereria to prioritise the weekend’s all-important clash with Tottenham in the Premier League.
Any of the two sides who wins that could stay up – potentially at the expense of the other. But despite being weakened, Forest came into the tie here intent on overturning their 1-0 deficit from the first leg, and either side of the break they seized control with two stunning goals.
Nicolas Dominguez rose highest to power home a header just before half time, before captain Ryan Yates unleashed an unstoppable left-footed drive from distance early in the second period to turn the aggregate score on its head.
Midtjylland hit back nine minutes after the hour when Martin Erlic pounced on a loose ball and slammed it past Stefan Ortega. Extra time came and both Lorenzo Lucca and Yates thought they had won it for Forest, only to be denied by marginal offside calls. Then came the penalties.
