Nottingham won 1-0 with Wood’s penalty, the Portuguese 2-1 through added time. In a week the return matches of the semi-finals
Two home victories, narrow ones. Everything therefore remains to be decided in the return matches in a week’s time with reversed pitches. The successes of Nottingham Forest (1-0) over Aston Villa and Braga (2-1) over Freiburg leave the Europa League semi-finals open.
Nottingham Forest-Braga 1-0
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The difference, for now, is all in a sensational inattention. The English derby in the semi-final of the Europa League will start again in Birmingham next week with Nottingham Forest leading 1-0, the consequence of Chris Wood’s decisive penalty in the 71st minute resulting from a VAR review (this time no controversy, as in the Champions League semi-final between Atletico and Arsenal) of a sensational naivety by Lucas Digne, who opposes with his hands inexplicably high an attempt by Omari Hutchinson to keep a ball destined to end up in the field. The difference, between two teams that tried and played well without overdoing it, is all here for the moment. All in all, Forest deserved it, this small advantage in their first European semi-final since 1984. The City Ground had been waiting for a European night like this for 42 years and Pereira’s team lived up to the task. It emerged slowly over the course of the match, dragged by the class of Elliott Anderson in the middle of the pitch (one destined to start in the England team aiming for the World Cup) and by the offensive creativity of Morgan Gibbs-White. Injuries in the series had forced Pereira to launch a formation with two central strikers, Wood and Igor Jesus, in which the team grew over the course of the match. Until that moment so determined, the 7th penalty of the season in Europe for Forest. Hutchinson had the best moment of his game in his attempt to save that destined ball. Wood, after the long wait between the VAR review and the one on the monitor of the Portuguese referee Pinheiro, was glacial in kicking a penalty that was unstoppable even for a phenomenal goalkeeper like Emi Martinez. “This victory is only the first step – said the New Zealand center forward -. We know that it will be tough at Villa Park: we have done our job here at home, but another match awaits us. In matches like these the small details make the difference: I think we both played well, but there are small moments that can change matches and on this occasion it went well for us.” Forest know that this small advantage is not enough to secure their first European final since 1980, their first since they won the European Cup for the second consecutive year. At Villa Park, where they haven’t won in the league since 1995, they will have to step up further, but the now 9 consecutive useful results in all competitions have given Forest a different belief. One that leads them to believe that, even if they have not yet officially achieved salvation in the Premier League, this season in Europe could be unforgettable.
surprised
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Aston Villa had won their last 9 games in the Europa League. Digne’s distraction that led to the penalty is the tip of the iceberg of a match that Emery’s team did not play at its best level. He had only one great chance, an intuition from Ollie Watkins midway through the second half to which Stefan Ortega had an instinctive reaction that led to a super save. But Villa, who were the clear favorites to win the cup before the start of these semi-finals, can play at a much higher level. In view of the return leg, the injury to Onana will have to be weighed, as he is out with a muscle problem at the start of the second half and is a fundamental piece of the midfield. He disappointed Morgan Rogers, never really in the game, who lost the direct comparison between creatives with Gibbs-White. Ollie Watkins, rarely sharp in attack, disappointed. It wasn’t a single problem, though: Aston Villa’s entire away format performed less than expected. The luck of Emery, the king of the Europa League with four successes, is that there is still the return, there is still Villa Park. There is still one match to prove that this team deserves this cup.
braga-freiburg 2-1
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A quick game. The latter allows Braga to win the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals against Freiburg 2-1. But the race went in phases. In the first minutes the Portuguese dominated, who immediately took the lead by exploiting a clumsy intervention by Makengo: the French defender was unable to clear the area after a cross from the left and instead headed the ball to the feet of Victor Gomez, who was quick to find Tiknaz who made it 1-0 from two steps away. Freiburg has the merit of not becoming disunited and in turn taking advantage of Braga’s first mistake: Matanovic intercepts a ball and sends it to Beste who serves the ball to Grifo which only needs to be placed in the goal. For the Italian it is the 11th goal in this Europa League with Freiburg (no one has done better). From that moment the Germans seem to emerge and find confidence, but in full recovery Taylor (recalled by VAR) concedes a penalty for a contact between Lienhart and Lagerbielke. Atubolu (the best penalty saver in the Bundesliga) however rejected Zalazar’s attempt from the spot.
episodes
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In the second half the match remained balanced and uncertain, with the result at the mercy of the episodes: Matanovic, from two steps away, wasted an excellent opportunity to put Freiburg ahead by hitting the ball with his shoulder instead of his head, then it was Hornicek who saved from Eggestein. On the counterattack, however, the Portuguese remained treacherous. It is no coincidence that, in full injury time, Braga’s 2-1 comes: Vitor Carvalho’s shot is not blocked well by Atubolu which allows Dorgeles to put the ball back into the net from two steps away. However, the result remains in the balance in view of next Thursday’s return match: for Braga it would be the second final in the Europa League (they lost the other to Porto in 2011), for Freiburg it would instead be the first final in the history of this competition.
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