Nottingham Forest’s self-indulgence was punished by FC Midtjylland late in the game as they lost 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie in dangerous conditions at the City Ground.
On a rain-soaked night by the River Trent, substitute Gusun Cho took advantage of a lapse in concentration from Forest defender Ola Aina to give Midtjylland the winner with 10 minutes remaining. The home team, currently without a win in five games, had 22 shots but failed to score.
Ticket prices were reduced for Forest fans in hopes of filling the stadium, but visitors endured another frustrating night as they watched their team struggle in front of goal in wet and windy weather. As expected, the night ended with boos.
They sacked Sean Dyche and brought in Vitor Pereira, but so far it hasn’t had the desired effect. Forest have lost four of their six games since taking over as manager, and no team in Europe’s top five leagues has lost more in all competitions.
Star man Elliott Anderson, who scored twice in last week’s draw against Manchester City, came close to setting up Morgan Gibbs-White and tried to overcome the conditions, but fell short this time after seeing his own unglamorous shot saved in an impressive second half.
Forest had a number of chances to go forward, including ex-Bournemouth midfielder Philippe Billing clearing the ball on the line for Midtjylland and Omari Hutchinson’s long-range shot being saved, but they lacked the quality to find a breakthrough.
Midtjylland were ruthless in comparison, scoring with only their second shot on target, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Substitute Valdemar Andreasen hit the bar, forcing Mats Sells to make a series of good saves.
The Danes persevered and became the fourth team this century to win twice at the City Ground in one season. Both winning goals were the only goals scored after the 80th minute in a European match.
Forest have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the quarter-finals with next week’s second leg in Denmark. But attention will soon turn to Sunday’s crucial Premier League game against Fulham (live on Sky Sports) and the battle for survival.
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After Forest lost to FC Midtjylland in the Europa League, Luke Littler appeared to make the ‘0-1’ gesture while a walk-on at Nottingham.
Pereira: Even the rain was against us!
Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira told TNT Sports:
“It’s difficult to explain. We created many chances to score goals. Even if we drew, in my opinion it wasn’t fair.”
“The two chances they created, they scored. But we had enough time and I believe we had the quality to win the game.”
“Even if we created chances and we didn’t score, in the end we tried everything to score. We did everything and just missed the goal.
“It’s very frustrating that we didn’t score and they came for a draw but won the game, so we want to keep our spirits up and get ready for the next game against Fulham.
“Even the rain was against us! At the best moments when we were playing, creating and having good dynamics, it rained.
“It was raining and it was difficult. Like I said before, we’ll keep our spirits up and go into the game with a winning mentality. We’ll see what happens next. Now it’s time to recover mentally.”
Hutchinson: I fully believe we can turn things around.
Nottingham Forest forward Omari Hutchinson on TNT Sports:
“I’ve been working on finishing in training and hopefully next week will be better.”
“I wouldn’t say[the problem was]confidence. We were creating chances and the crowd was behind us. We have to give them credit.”
“Every game we’re playing is great, we have full faith in it and the manager has full faith in us. We just want to make it happen.”
Opta Stats: Frustrating Forest
Nottingham Forest have shot just 8.6% in all competitions this season, the lowest rate of any Premier League side in 2025-26. In major European history, only two times have FC Midtjylland scored the winning goal at home after the 80th minute. Both have come for Nottingham Forest this season (88th minute in October, 80th minute tonight). Nottingham Forest only managed to limit their opponents to zero shots on target in the first half of the game. He has missed eight of the 42 games in all competitions this season, including three in the six games since Vitor Pereira took over as manager.
When is the knockout stage?
Round of 16 Second Leg: March 19th
Quarterfinals: April 9th and 16th
Semi-finals: April 30th and May 7th
Final: May 20th (Istanbul, Besiktas Stadium)
