Nottingham Forest, the club of Super Eagles of Nigeria pair Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi, defeated 10-man Porto 1-0 in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final on Thursday night to advance to the semi-finals of a European competition for the first time since 1984.
Forest will face English Premier League rivals Aston Villa in the semi-finals of the competition.
After last week’s 1-1 draw in Portugal, Morgan Gibbs-White scored the only goal at the City Ground to set up a mouth-watering final-four Europa League tie with Villa later this month.
While right-back Aina started for Forest and played the full match, Awoniyi was not in the matchday squad.
Porto, who had Super Eagles left-back Zaidu Sanusi in their starting line-up, had failed to win any of their previous 24 matches on English soil, including a 2-0 defeat to Forest in October.
The task became even tougher for the Portuguese side when Jan Bednarek was sent off after just eight minutes for a high challenge on Chris Wood.
Referee Danny Makkelie had initially decided against booking the former Southampton and Aston Villa defender before the video assistant referee (VAR) recommended an on-field review.
From that moment, Forest – who have used this competition as a welcome escape from their struggles in the Premier League this season – stepped up the pressure and took the lead through Gibbs-White four minutes later.
The England midfielder latched onto a pass from Neco Williams before firing past Diogo Costa, with his strike taking a deflection off Pablo Rosario, who was deputising at the heart of defence following Bednarek’s dismissal.
Braga will face Freiburg in the other semi-final, with the first legs taking place on April 30 and the return fixtures a week later.
At Villa Park, Aston Villa sealed their spot in the semi-finals after completing a commanding 7-1 aggregate victory against Bologna.
Already 3-1 up from the first leg, tournament favourites Villa produced a statement display under four-time Europa League-winning manager Unai Emery to take another step closer to ending a 30-year trophy drought.
It only took the Premier League side 16 minutes to increase their advantage in the tie as Ollie Watkins – the star of the first leg – applied the finishing touch on a wonderful team move to score his 100th goal for the club in all competitions.
Morgan Rogers then had his spot-kick saved by Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia after Martin Vitik’s handball inside the box but Villa pulled away further 44 seconds later through Emiliano Buendia.
With the Bologna defence switching off, Buendia latched on to Lucas Digne’s long throw and slotted past Ravaglia for his second goal in Europe this season.
Rogers then put the disappointment of his penalty miss behind him as he found the back of the net from a narrow angle with his weaker left foot after being found in space by his captain John McGinn – ending his 11-game goal drought.
Centre-back Ezri Konsa then added to his first-leg goal with an impressive volley on the turn following a corner to seal the victory in the 89th minute.
Villa’s third win over the Rossoblu at Villa Park in 18 months secured their second European semi-final in three seasons and a first all-English semi in Europe since Arsenal and Manchester United met in the 2008-2009 Champions League.
In the other quarter-final ties, Braga came from 2-0 down in Spain to beat Real Betis 4-2, completing a 5-3 aggregate victory, while Freiburg advanced past Celta Vigo 6-1.
With agency reports
RESULTS:
Real Betis 2-4 Braga (Agg: 3-5)
Nott’m Forest 1-0 Porto (Agg: 2-1)
Aston Villa 4-0 Bologna (Agg: 7-1)
Celta Vigo 1-3 Freiburg (Agg: 1-6)
