Nottingham Forest took advantage of the City Ground home advantage to defeat Aston Villa 1-0 in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final, thereby taking the advantage before the challenging away game at Villa Park.
The match took place with a balanced game when the two Premier League representatives seemed to understand each other very well. The first opportunity belonged to Aston Villa, when Youri Tielemans launched a long-range shot forcing Stefan Ortega to show his talent to save. In the opposite direction, the home team also created a storm when Ola Aina almost made a mistake, opening up opportunities for Emiliano Buendia to approach the goal.
The two teams continuously exchanged blows with impressive saves from the two goalkeepers. Ortega denied Morgan Rogers' dangerous curling shot, while Emiliano Martinez excellently saved Igor Jesus' shot.
The turning point came in the 71st minute, when referee Joao Pinheiro consulted VAR and determined that Lucas Digne had a handball in the penalty area. From the 11m spot, Chris Wood made no mistake, decisively finished into the top corner, scoring the only goal of the match.
After conceding a goal, Aston Villa rushed up to find an equalizer but encountered a resilient defense from Forest. The clearest chance belonged to Tielemans, but the Belgian midfielder shot over the bar in a favorable situation.
This victory helps Nottingham Forest extend their 5-match unbeaten streak at home against Aston Villa, and also marks their 7th penalty in the Europa League this season.
However, the opportunity is still not closed for Aston Villa. Coach Unai Emery has won all 5 times in the Europa League semi-finals, and his team will need an impressive comeback in the second leg to win a ticket to the final.
