{"id":2027,"date":"2026-05-01T15:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=2027"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:34:18","slug":"wood-punishes-digne-blunder-as-forest-earn-europa-semi-final-lead-against-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/wood-punishes-digne-blunder-as-forest-earn-europa-semi-final-lead-against-villa\/","title":{"rendered":"Wood punishes Digne blunder as Forest earn Europa semi-final lead against Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Nottingham Forest seized the advantage in their Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa as Chris Wood’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win in the first leg on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wood netted from the spot in the second half after a needless handball by Villa defender Lucas Digne in the all-English clash at the City Ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Zealand striker’s fifth goal of an injury-plagued season moved Forest within touching distance of their first European final since 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vitor Pereira’s side are on a nine-match winning run in all competitions, carrying them five points clear of the Premier League relegation zone and to the brink of the Europa showpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forest will make the short 50-mile trip to Villa Park for the second leg on May 7, with the winners facing Braga or Freiburg in the final in Istanbul on May 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braga won 2-1 in the other semi-final first leg on Thursday. Making it to Istanbul would be a dramatic finale to Forest’s soap opera season, featuring four managers and a tense relegation battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche, Pereira had led Forest to their first European semi-final since losing against Anderlecht in the 1983-84 UEFA Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crowned European champions in 1979 and 1980 in their golden era under Brian Clough, Forest have been staved of success over the last three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing in Europe for the first time since 1995-96, Forest are chasing a first major trophy since the 1990 League Cup. They have not been in any major final since losing against Manchester United in the 1992 League Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villa boss Unai Emery has a well-earned reputation as a Europa League specialist after winning the competition three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal, as well finishing as a runner-up with Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Villa have been semi-final flops under Emery, losing in the last four against Olympiacos in the 2024 UEFA Conference League and Crystal Palace in the 2025 FA Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Digne disaster –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villa remain on course to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top-five finish in the Premier League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But crashing out against Forest would sting, given Villa haven’t won a major trophy since the 1996 League Cup, while their last major continental final was the iconic 1982 European Cup triumph against Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villa threatened in the frantic early stages when Youri Tielemans’ long-range blast forced a good save from Stefan Ortega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were quickly back on the attack as Ollie Watkins picked out Morgan Rogers for a curler that Ortega saved at full stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson escaped a red card for his ugly tackle on Watkins and the hosts gradually found their stride after the early Villa assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson’s deft chipped pass reached Morgan Gibbs-White and his cross found Igor Jesus for a close-range volley that Emiliano Martinez repelled with a brilliant one-handed stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watkins should have turned in Rogers’ shot early in the second half, but the striker miscued his effort straight at Ortega from five yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was little to separate the teams and when the opening goal arrived in the 71st minute it came with a helping hand from Digne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omari Hutchinson chased an overhit cross and hooked it back in play just before the ball crossed the byline, with Digne foolishly sticking his arm up to block it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A VAR check confirmed the ball hadn’t gone out of play and Wood stepped up to lash the penalty past Martinez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City Ground was rocking and Emery immediately hauled off the hapless Digne, sending on Jadon Sancho, Douglas Luiz and Ian Maatsen. But Forest held firm to secure a victory that took them to the verge of an historic achievement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nottingham Forest seized the advantage in their Europa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2029,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions\/2029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}