SUPER Eagles defender Ola Aina was in action for 75 minutes as his Nottingham Forest side took a big step towards the UEFA Europa League final with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa at the City Ground tonight.
Chris Wood gave Forest the crucial lead in the Europa League semi-final with a second-half strike.
The striker’s 71st-minute penalty – after Lucas Digne’s absurd handball – allows Vitor Pereira’s side to take a slender advantage to Villa Park for next week’s second leg.
Emi Martinez’s brilliant reaction save – clawing the ball off the line to deny IgorJesus after 33 minutes – prevented Forest from scoring earlier.
Villa beat Forest 3-1 at Villa Park in the Premier League in January but must overcome a deficit as Unai Emery searches for a fifth Europa League title.
Stefan Ortega saved from Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers before the break and he also kept put Ollie Watkins’ instinctive effort in the second half.
Forest then edged ahead when Wood smashed in a penalty after Digne’s rush of blood.
The left-back inexplicably put his arms up as Omari Hutchinson tried to hook a deep ball back into the box just as it looked like it was dropping out, with VAR ruling it had not gone completely over the line and out of play – and therefore was still live.
In the other Europa League semi-final first leg, Sporting Braga netted a late winner to beat Freiburg 2-1 in Portugal.
In the UEFA Conference League, Senegal forward Ismaila Sarr scored inside the first minute as Crystal Palace won 2-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk, while Rayo Vallecano defeated Strasbourg 1-0 in Spain.
RESULTS
EUROPA LEAGUE
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa
Sporting Braga 2-1 Freiburg
CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-3 Crystal Palace
Rayo Vallecano 1-0 Strasbourg
