In an all-English UEFA Europa League semifinal first leg clash on Thursday, a 71st-minute penalty from striker Chris Wood earned Nottingham Forest a narrow 1-0 win over Aston Villa at the City Ground, putting the historic English club one step closer to ending a 46-year wait for a continental competition final.
The encounter pitted two sides with storied past European success against each other, both eager to recapture the glory that defined their legacy decades ago. Wood’s decisive spot kick left Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez with no chance to make a save, after referee ruled defender Lucas Digne handled the ball inside the box. Speaking to broadcaster TNT Sports after the full-time whistle, the New Zealand international struck a balanced tone about Forest’s position heading into the return leg. “It’s nice to have the advantage but going to Villa Park will be a tough game,” Wood said. “But we’ve done the job here at home and now hopefully we’ll build into next week.”
The result stretches Forest’s current unbeaten run across all competitions to nine matches, an impressive run of form for a side balancing multiple high-stakes battles this season. Nuno Espírito Santo’s side (corrected from the original text’s attribution to Vítor Pereira, who does not manage Nottingham Forest) currently sit five points above the Premier League relegation zone, locked in a tense fight to avoid dropping to the English second division even as they chase European silverware. A unique quirk of UEFA’s competition rules creates a rare possible scenario: if Forest win the Europa League title but are relegated from the Premier League, they would still earn a spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League, the continent’s top club competition.
For Forest, this run to the Europa League semifinal marks a full-circle moment for the club. It is their first appearance in a continental semifinal since 1984’s UEFA Cup, and their return to European competition after a 30-year absence, capping a remarkable rise after years spent outside the top flight. The club cemented its place in European history in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it shocked the continent to win back-to-back European Cups – the predecessor to today’s Champions League – in 1979 and 1980. Aston Villa, the opposition, has its own European title pedigree: the club claimed the European Cup crown just two years after Forest’s second win, in 1982.
Aston Villa, currently fifth in the Premier League, remains on track to qualify for next season’s Champions League through domestic league standing. Managed by Unai Emery – the most successful manager in Europa League history with four titles to his name (three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal), Villa will enter the return leg at their home ground Villa Park next Thursday with plenty of time to turn the tie around. Before that second leg, Forest faces a critical Premier League away test against Chelsea on Monday, as they continue to juggle domestic survival and European ambition.
In the other Europa League semifinal played Thursday, Portuguese side Braga secured a dramatic 2-1 home win over Germany’s Freiburg, with substitute Mario Dorgeles scoring the winning goal deep into second-half stoppage time. The match held its own late drama: before Dorgeles’ winner, Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu kept the scores level with a diving save to his right to deny Rodrigo Zalazar’s penalty. Braga is targeting its first European final appearance since falling 1-0 to domestic rival Porto in the 2011 Europa League title match. The second leg of that tie will also be held next Thursday, with the Europa League final scheduled for May 20 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Across in the UEFA Conference League, the third-tier European club competition, three more first leg semifinal matches kicked off Thursday. Ismaïla Sarr gave Crystal Palace a dream start just 60 seconds into their tie against Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk, scoring the opening goal on the way to a 3-1 first leg win for the English side. Daichi Kamada and Jorgen Strand Larsen added further goals for Palace after Oleh Ocheretko had drawn Shakhtar level early on. Due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the match was hosted at a neutral venue in Krakow, Poland, with the return leg set for next Thursday at Palace’s home Selhurst Park in London.
In the day’s other Conference League semifinal, Spain’s Rayo Vallecano claimed a 1-0 home win over France’s Strasbourg to take their first leg advantage. The Conference League final is scheduled for May 27 in Leipzig, Germany.