Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa: Chris Wood penalty seals win in Europa League semi-final opener | OneFootball

Vitor Pereira’s side secure narrow advantage in all-English last-four tie heading to second leg at Villa Park

Chris Wood’s second-half penalty gave Nottingham Forest the advantage in their all-English Europa League semi-final with Aston Villa.

The New Zealand striker emphatically converted from 12 yards to put Forest just 90 minutes away from a first European final in 46 years as they took a 1-0 first-leg lead.

But they will know there is still work to do if they want to try and follow in the footsteps of Brian Clough’s side which won back-to-back European Cups in 1979 and 1980.

Vitor Pereira has some way to go before reaching Clough’s status, but he has masterminded a stark turnaround of Forest’s fortunes as they are now nine games unbeaten in all competitions.

It will be a tough task to defend the slender lead in next week’s second leg and Villa are by no means out of the tie.

A nine-game Europa League winning run came to an end at the City Ground, but nobody knows their way around a Europa League semi-final quite like Unai Emery and a fifth title for the Spaniard is not out of his reach just yet, with Villa notoriously strong at Villa Park.

Villa were assured in early possession and fashioned the first chance of the match in the ninth minute, when Youri Tielemans fired a 20-yard effort that Stefan Ortega palmed away.

The German goalkeeper was again called into action just before the half-hour mark as he clawed away Morgan Rogers’ effort from a quick counter-attack.

Forest had grown into the game and were almost in front, only for a miraculous stop from Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the 33rd minute.

The net was about to bulge after Igor Jesus had made good contact from Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross after Elliot Anderson’s clever pass had played him in, but the Argentinian somehow managed to stick a hand out and then had the presence of mind to scoop the ball into his grasp before it went over the line.

It was Ortega’s turn to make a big save 10 minutes after the restart as he kept it level.

Rogers’ shot took a deflection and went to Ollie Watkins, who stuck out a foot and his effort went straight to the Forest goalkeeper who made an instinctive stop.

The decisive moment of the game came with 20 minutes left as Forest were awarded a penalty.

Gibbs-White’s cross floated through to the far post and appeared to be out of play when Omari Hutchinson hooked it back into the outstretched arms of Villa defender Lucas Digne.

After a lengthy check Portuguese VAR Tiago Martins ruled the ball had not gone out and sent his compatriot Joao Pinheiro to the pitchside monitor.

The decision was a formality and Wood dispatched the spot-kick in commanding style, lashing past Martinez.

Forest seemed content to hold on to their lead, while Villa were not exactly throwing bodies forward in search of a leveller.

Their big chance came in the 90th minute when a quick breakaway saw Tielemans close in on goal, but he uncharacteristically fired over.