On the night Chris Wood returned from six months on the sidelines, a freakish own goal by the Porto defender Martim Fernandes earned Nottingham Forest a draw and fostered optimism of advancing to the Europa League semi-finals.
The New Zealand striker was withdrawn at the interval, Vitor Pereira mindful of the bigger picture with Sunday’s home match against Aston Villa the first of seven matches Forest have to preserve their Premier League status. This all remains a juggling act for Pereira, back here in the red corner for the first time since guiding Porto to successive titles.
Villa could await in Europe, too, if Forest prevail in the second leg at the City Ground next Thursday to tee up a first continental semi-final since 1984. If it feels rather achievable for Forest, whose owner Evangelos Marinakis at the outset of this campaign targeted European silverware, then that is because Forest beat Porto at home in October in Sean Dyche’s first game.
Now Pereira is in charge and there is a sense of momentum building, even with nine changes and a disjointed display here. “I am pleased with the result,” he said. “We will see what we can do next week.”
Forest arrived in northern Portugal empowered by the fact that Wood was among their squad. He travelled with them to north London for their 3-0 triumph at Tottenham, their previous match, but this was a case of on-pitch business.
Pereira handed Wood a starting berth and the 34-year-old registered 48 minutes on his first appearance for 173 days. In that time he has undergone knee surgery, missed 34 matches and Forest have dispensed with two managers. Wood had just 11 touches in the first half and only one of those came in the opposition box. The sight of his name on the team sheet was a boost but he was symptomatic of a blunt showing.
Freiburg took a significant step towards the Europa League semi-finals by beating Celta Vigo 3-0 at home. Vincenzo Grifo (pictured) put the hosts in front after 10 minutes, curling his shot into the far corner. Jan-Niklas Beste doubled their advantage in the 32nd minute, tapping home a cross from close range.
Mathias Ginter's header 12 minutes from time means Celta have a mountain to climb to reach the semi-finals. The winners of this tie will face either Real Betis or Braga, who played out a 1-1 first-leg draw in Portugal on Wednesday.
In the Conference League, Shakhtar Donetsk took a big step towards a semi-final with Crystal Palace by beating AZ Alkmaar 3-0. Playing their home leg in Krakow, Poland, Shakhtar broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute through Pedrinho, with Alisson then striking twice in quick succession late in the game.
Mainz sank Gary O'Neil's Strasbourg side with a 2-0 win in Germany. Kaishu Sano's deflected opener and Stefan Posch's volley completed the scoring in the first 20 minutes. Earlier, Rayo Vallecano eased to a 3-0 home win over AEK Athens, with Ilias Akhomach breaking the deadlock in the second minute. AFP
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Forest began sloppily and William Gomes converted Gabriel Veiga’s teasing diagonal pass into the box with 11 minutes on the clock. Terem Moffi slid into the six-yard box but while he could not connect, Gomes was on hand at the back post to side-foot home.
Porto appeared in total control but a couple of minutes later Fernandes gifted Forest a bizarre equaliser, beating Diogo Costa with a blind back pass from close to halfway after Porto shifted the ball across defence from left to right.
It all felt rather harmless when Thiago Silva moved the ball on to Fernandes but then the right-back sent a clunky first-time ball towards his own goal, catching a stunned Costa cold. The ball bounced outside the box and then skidded into the corner at the near post. Fernandes placed his hands on his head long before the ball went in and he was withdrawn on 19 minutes, though seemingly through injury.
Pereira maintained it would be foolish to demand too much from Wood and so it was no surprise he was replaced by Igor Jesus at the interval, part of a double substitution with Villa in mind. “I was thinking about the next game,” conceded Pereira. “It’s very important for us to get points in the league and this is the only way.”
The manner of Fernandes’s comical own goal hampered the hosts and they struggled to attack with quite the same vigour until after the interval, when Gomes dragged an early shot wide of a post. While Forest seemed happy for the game to peter out, Porto sought to dial up the pressure and their head coach, Francesco Farioli, replenished his attack with the arrivals of Deniz Gül, Pepe and the highly regarded Denmark midfielder Victor Froholdt.
But it was Omari Hutchinson, a Forest sub, who swung in a cross that led to a rare Forest chance, culminating in Igor Jesus having a goal disallowed. Igor Jesus beat Costa to the punch but his attempt to latch on to the ball ended with Costa in a heap requiring treatment and the video assistant referee, Daniele Chiffi, deeming the Brazilian to have handled the ball. The referee, Marco Guida, ruled the goal out.
Porto had chances to snatch victory but Stefan Ortega saved well from Gomes and then Gül curled wide after neat interplay with Froholdt. Perhaps the best opening fell to Froholdt, who after collecting a wonderful Pepe backheel, drilled a low shot inches wide.
