Nottingham Forest 0-1 Midtjylland: Cho Gue-Sung 80
It should have been the best of seasons in recent history for Nottingham Forest, but having flipped through four permanent managers, staring downwards at the drop in the Premier League and now seeing their European dreams in tatters, it is searching for a spot in one of their worst.
It was fitting that the rain was coming down in torrents over the City Ground. What a puddle of misery last season’s enterprising side have been thrown into by their hierarchy this term.
Here substitute Cho Gue-sung rose unmarked to condemn them to a first-leg defeat and while there is still the possibility of a miracle in Denmark, it is difficult to see how judging by Forest’s overall performance this season and on this night in particular.
Forest were wasteful in the 80 minutes before Cho’s sucker-punch. Midtjylland spoke first when Junior Brumado rose unmarked and headed towards an empty net but Murillo came back to clear, although replays showed that it was not as vital as it had seemed in real time with the ball going wide.
Then Forest’s Omari Hutchinson tested Elias Rafn Olafsson from distance and the goalkeeper was forced into a flying save. It was the first of many efforts from the home team, Ola Aina subsequently asking strong questions again with a powerful drive from 25 yards out on the right. Olafsson parried and Igor Jesus was unable to wrap his foot around it for a follow-up shot.
Anderson tried Olafsson again from 30 yards and the goalkeeper required a one-handed save to tip it over the bar. Before the break Midtjylland needed a headed goal-line clearance from Philip Billing to keep out Jesus’s looping header, before Morgan Gibbs-White’s close-range effort deflected off Mads Bech Sorensen when it was destined for goal.
Forest had to find something at home. Gibbs-White unwittingly blocked Jesus’s dangerous effort in front of goal and Nicolas Dominguez’s rasping drive twisted just wide, but there was little excuse for Anderson’s anaemic effort after the hour with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Midtjylland gave warning when, from distance, Valdemar Byskov forced Matz Sels into displaying his elasticity before finding the crossbar shortly after. It went unheeded and with the clock ticking down in the apocalyptic rain Ousmane Diao sent in an excellent cross and Cho, treated with levity, planted his header into the bottom corner.
