A bizarre long-range own goal helped Nottingham Forest earn a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Porto in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
Porto took an early lead when William Gomes tapped home at the far post after an energetic start at the Dragao, but that advantage lasted just two minutes. Midway inside his own half, Porto defender Martim Fernandes attempted a back pass to goalkeeper Diogo Costa without looking. He got too much on it and the ball zipped past a stranded Costa, levelling the tie and shifting momentum to Forest.
Forest boss Vitor Pereira, honoured before kick-off for winning back-to-back Portuguese titles with Porto between 2011-13, made several changes with a crucial Premier League game at home to Aston Villa on Sunday in mind. Nottingham brought in nine changes from their 3-0 win at Spurs, handing a first start after a nine-month layoff to striker Chris Wood. Dilane Bakwa, Dan Ndoye, Morato, Zach Abbott, James McAtee, Stefan Ortega and Ryan Yates also started, and the visitors switched to three at the back.
Porto largely controlled the game after the early drama, but Forest frustrated them and limited clear chances. The closest the hosts came to regaining the lead was when Stefan Ortega denied Gomes with a strong save about 20 minutes from time. Late on, substitute Victor Froholdt — set up by a defence-splitting pass from Pepe — was inches away from finding the far corner.
Forest had a potential winner ruled out by VAR when Igor Jesus’s effort was disallowed for a foul on Costa midway through the second half. Despite that, Forest held on in their first European quarter-final since losing to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup 30 years ago and will head to the City Ground next Thursday confident of going one better. A win could set up a possible all-English semi-final with Villa.
On the result, Forest head coach Vitor Pereira said: “A good result in my opinion. To face two competitions we need to play with everyone. The players that started today did good work. In the end, 1-1, the game is open to play at home and decide qualification. Porto playing at home are a strong team. They have momentum with supporters. At Forest I try to balance the two competitions, it was very clear we played with nine different players to the last game. I think we did well. The players tried everything. The first two subs we did I was thinking about the next game against Villa. It’s very important for us to get points in the league and this is the only way.”
Team news:
– Nottingham Forest made nine changes from the 3-0 win at Spurs before the international break
– Chris Wood made his first start since October
– Dilane Bakwa, Dan Ndoye, Morato, Zach Abbott, James McAtee, Stefan Ortega and Ryan Yates also started
What’s next:
– Nottingham Forest fixtures
– Europa League fixtures