Ola Aina played a key role as Nottingham Forest booked their place in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals with a hard-fought win over FC Porto on Thursday, while Taiwo Awoniyi remained unavailable for European action, Soccernet.ng reports.
Morgan Gibbs-White scored the only goal of a tense affair as the Premier League side recorded a 1-0 victory to advance 2-1 on aggregate, after a 1-1 draw in Portugal in the first leg last week.
Nottingham Forest vs Porto: What happened?
Nottingham Forest entered the clash chasing a first European semifinal since 1984 and continued their journey towards a first-ever Europa League crown.
Porto started brighter and nearly took the lead early on, but Terem Moffi was denied by a solid save from Stefan Ortega.
The game took a major turn in the eighth minute when Porto were reduced to 10 men. Jan Bednarek was initially shown a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Chris Wood, but after a VAR review, the decision was upgraded to a red. Wood was unable to continue and had to be substituted.
Forest wasted no time making their advantage count. Just four minutes later, Nicolás Domínguez picked out Gibbs-White, whose effort took a deflection off Pablo Rosario and wrong-footed Diogo Costa in goal.
With the extra man, Forest dominated large spells of the first half and kept pushing forward. Aina was heavily involved, making marauding runs down the right and contributing at both ends. He even helped create a chance for Igor Jesus, although the Brazilian could only shoot straight at Costa.
Porto came out much improved in the second half despite being a man down. They went close twice, hitting the woodwork through William Gomes and Alan Varela, but Forest held their nerve to see out the win and book a historic semi-final spot, which marks their first in Europe since 1984.
Nigerian player ratings: Aina, Awoniyi, Moffi, Sanusi
While Aina enjoyed a decent night for Forest, Awoniyi was not involved, as he is not registered for the Europa League.
Aina delivered a very solid performance. He played the full 90 minutes, recorded 88% passing accuracy, created one chance, made eight defensive contributions and won all of his ground duels. His display earned him a 7.4 rating on Sofascore, one of the highest on the pitch.
It was a tougher night for Porto’s Nigerian duo. Zaidu Sanusi struggled to influence the game and was chalked off at halftime, while Moffi also had a disappointing outing in front of goal. The striker, who joined the club earlier in the year, managed just one shot on goal and missed two big chances.
He also picked up a yellow card and was taken off in the second half as Porto searched for a way back. He finished with a 5.6 rating after an ineffective display.
Next up for Nottingham Forest is an all-English clash against Aston Villa, who cruised into the semi-finals after thrashing Bologna 7-1 on aggregate.
