Forest withstand Fenerbahce fightback to reach Europa League last 16 | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest suffered a 2-1 defeat to Fenerbahce in the second leg of their Europa League knockout round play-off tie at the City Ground on Thursday.

However, Forest held their nerve against the Turkish side to book their place in the last 16 after winning the tie 4-2 on aggregate.

Lorenzo Lucca was presented with the first chance after 13 minutes, when he got onto James McAtee’s inviting cross. Tarik Cetin comfortably gathered his header.

Kerem Akturkoglu gave the visitors the lead in the 22nd minute after Nene found him on the break. The Turkish striker finished past Stefan Ortega.

The Tricky Trees almost responded immediately via Elliott Anderson, but his curling effort went just past the right post.

The Yellow Canaries almost doubled their advantage before the break, but Ortega got down quickly to parry Cherif’s deflected strike away.

The visitors were awarded a penalty after Jair Cunha brought down Akturkoglu in the area a minute after the restart. He scored to reduce Forest’s aggregate lead to one goal.

Jair Cunha latched onto a loose ball from N’Golo Kante’s error, but Cetin saved his effort. Nicolas Dominguez slammed the rebound over.

Callum Hudson-Odoi pulled one back for the hosts to restore their two-goal cushion on aggregate after he picked out the bottom corner with a deflected strike.

The Englishman could’ve restored parity for the Tricky Trees on the night, but his effort flew wide of the right post.

Cetin made two good saves to deny Igor Jesus and Omari Hutchinson.

Forest will face either FC Midtjylland or Real Betis in the round of 16.