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29 min: A shot of Wood in the dugout. Ice on the knee. The swelling was visible earlier; hopefully it’s nothing more than bruising. On TNT, Glenn Hoddle, who knows a thing or two about career-bothering knee injuries, suggests internal injury is unlikely, given the fairly calm look on Wood’s face, and the fact he walked off without showing too much discomfort. Here’s to Hoddle being correct, Wood is certainly due some good luck.
27 min: Hutchinson, once again making a nuisance of himself down the right, flashes a shot into the side netting. It’s all Forest.
25 min: Ndoye barges his way down the left and wins a corner. Williams wastes it by looping it straight down Diogo Costa’s throat.
24 min: Forest have enjoyed 61 percent of possession so far. That extremely early Moffi chance apart, absolutely nothing has occurred in the Forest final third. Porto yet to recover from the early double blow.
22 min: Murillo opts to shoot for goal instead, and shanks a comically dreadful effort many yards wide left and into the stand containing the Porto travelling support. Haven’t they suffered enough already?
21 min: More space for Hutchinson out on the right. He teases a couple of Porto defenders, but isn’t able to break into the box. He tugs back for Aina, whose careful cross is claimed by Diogo Costa. But the hosts come again through Hutchinson, down the same wing, and he draws a foul from Gabriel Veiga. Free kick, and a chance to load the box.
19 min: Gibbs-White sends Hutchinson into space down the right. Hutchinson whips a lovely low curling cross through the Porto six-yard box. Ndoye stoops in at the far post but can’t connect. So close to a second; that’d have been a lovely goal. “Having seen Porto perform near flawlessly against Stuttgart, having the air of a team peaking at the right time, they were my pick for winning the Europa League,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Bednarek’s challenge isn’t quite in the same league as a 40-yard own goal, but it’s still considerably less clever than I expected the Dragons to be. Now, a man and a goal down, I suspect they probably won’t make my prediction come true.”
17 min: Igor Jesus’s shift is seconds old when he’s chasing after a long pass down the right. He earns a corner. Williams sends it long. Igor Jesus, not messing around and wasting no time, chests down but can’t get a shot away. Porto clear their lines. They need to clear their heads and quick, or this tie is getting away from them in short order.
16 min: Wood goes down. He’s taken a proper whack to the inside of his knee. He won’t be able to continue. Bednarek owes him an apology. Igor Jesus comes on in Wood’s place.
14 min: During the celebration, Gibbs-White holds up a Forest No8 shirt, a message for Elliot Anderson and his family in this difficult time. A poignant dedication, a team together.
ShareGOAL! Nottingham Forest 1-0 Porto (Gibbs-White 12); agg 2-1
Gibbs-White advances down the inside-left channel again. He shoots again, this time towards the bottom left. The ball takes a big nick off Rosario, sending the ball to the right, into the centre of the net, past the wrong-footed Diogo Costa. Forest grabbing their opportunity with both hands here!
Morgan Gibbs-White opens the scoring! Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty ImagesMorgan Gibbs-White can’t hear the Forest fans’ delight! Photograph: Molly Darlington/UEFA/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 15.20 EDT
11 min: The home fans send their condolences to the Anderson family in the only way they can, by singing Elliot’s song. The Geordie Maradona.
10 min: Forest know the momentum is theirs already, and Gibbs-White advances down the inside-left channel, entering the box and threading a shot-cum-cross towards the bottom right. Wood sticks out a toe in the hope of prodding home, but can’t reach the ball, which dribbles wide right.
9 min: Bednarek makes a small performance of arguing the toss, but his heart’s not really in it. He surely knows he’s bang to rights. Eventually he disappears down the tunnel sadly. A huge early boost for Forest … especially as Wood is fine to continue. He felt that all right, but the pain of impact seems to have subsided.
ShareRED CARD: Bednarek (Porto)
8 min: Bednarek stuck out his leg on the horizontal. High. He missed the ball by a long way. His studs caught the inside of Wood’s knee. That was an awful challenge … and the referee doesn’t take too long to draw a TV screen in the sky before drawing the red card from his pocket. The blood drains from Bednarek’s face. He knows what’s coming. Off he goes!
The ex-Southampton man gets his marching orders! Photograph: Chris Radburn/ReutersShare
Updated at 15.17 EDT
7 min: Bednarek’s brow furrows. He knows he’s in bother here. And VAR calls the referee over to the screen.
6 min: Wood looks to flick the ball past Bednarek in the centre circle. Bednarek sticks out a leg and high-kicks his studs on the inside of Wood’s knee. Oof. No booking, just a free kick, but that’s a really poor challenge. VAR is going to take a look at a potential red card.
Updated at 15.08 EDT
4 min: Sangare releases Gibbs-White down the right. Promising for Forest … until the whistle goes, Sangare having come through the back of Alberto Costa on the touchline. The correct decision, if annoyingly belated from a Forest point of view, everyone all excited for a second.
2 min: It’s an absolutely belting atmosphere, both sets of fans giving it plenty. But Porto nearly quieten the home fans in short order, Moffi latching onto a prod down the inside-right channel and attempting to flick past Ortega. The Forest keeper swipes away. The rebound falls to William Gomes, who blazes over. Yikes.
Updated at 15.05 EDT
Nottingham Forest get the ball rolling. They’re defending the Trent End in this first half. The aggregate score is 1-1 after the first leg.
The teams are out! Nottingham Forest in their Garibaldi red, Porto in the blue and white of the Portugal flag (of 1909, it was superseded two years later by the green-red we’re familiar with these days). A magnificent atmosphere at the City Ground. We’ll be off in a minute or two!
Forest coach Vítor Pereira speaks to TNT Sports. “One chance … just today, not tomorrow … today is the game … we have to do everything to show our ambition … show our quality, personality and organisation to be in the next round … in three days we play again in an important game in the league … Porto play with intensity … we must learn from the last game and play on a better level today … my condolence to the [Anderson] family … a very sad situation and we need to respect.”
Our man Will Unwin is currently sunning himself on the rolling verdant verges of the River Trent. Here’s his pre-match scene-setter.
double quotation markIt is currently a calm night on the banks of the Trent, although it will get quite lively come kick-off. There are plenty of Porto fans inside the City Ground, both in the away end and elsewhere in the corporate areas.
The Portuguese side will be disappointed they did not come away with from the first leg after an impressive display but Forest dug in to ensure things are level after 90 minutes. Vitor Pereira has selected a strong team, with centre-back the only area he has selected a backup in the form of Jair Cunha. If the Premier League side do get this done, it will be a historic night for the club and the home supporters will play their part. The bad news for them is Martim Fernandes is not playing, so they will have to do their own dirty work today.
Forest have five players who are one yellow card away from suspension. Of tonight’s starters, Murillo and Morgan Gibbs-White are on the tightrope; Morato, Igor Jesus and Ryan Yates will also need to watch themselves should they come on.
Six members of the Porto starting line-up are a booking away from missing out on the first leg of the semi should their team make it. Jan Bednarek, William Gomes, Gabriel Veiga, Zaidu, Pablo Rosario and Alberto Costa are all on Behaviour Watch, as is Dominik Prpić should he see action tonight.
Nottingham Forest make five changes from last week’s starting XI. Neco Williams, Ibrahim Sangaré, Omari Hutchinson, Jair Cunha and Ola Aina come in for Morato, Ryan Yates, James McAtee, Dilane Bakwa and Zach Abbott. Elliott Anderson misses the game after the passing of his mother; he had been suspended for last week’s first leg.
Porto make one change from last week. Alberto Costa replaces the injured Martim Fernandes, scorer of that unfortunate long-range own goal in the first leg. Followers of the Premier League will spot some old friends in the Porto squad: Thiago Silva won the Champions League and Club World Cup with Chelsea back in 2021, Jan Bednarek spent eight years at Southampton between 2017 and 2025, and Jakub Kiwior is currently on loan from Arsenal.
ShareThe teams
Nottingham Forest: Ortega, Cunha, Murillo, Williams, Aina, Gibbs-White, Sangare, Dominguez, Ndoye, Hutchinson, Wood.
Subs: Sels, Willows, Morato, Hudson-Odoi, Jesus, Lucca, Yates, McAtee, Bakwa, Milenkovic, Abbott, Sinclair.
Porto: Diogo Costa, Alberto Costa, Thiago Silva, Bednarek, Zaidu, Fofana, Rosario, Veiga, Gomes, Moffi, Sainz.
Subs: Ramos, Joao Costa, Kiwior, Froholdt, Pepe, Prpic, Varela, Gui, Tiago Silva, Bras, Moura, Mora.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands).
Updated at 14.17 EDT
Preamble
Six months ago this happened …
… which has got to augur well for Nottingham Forest (even if it didn’t serve as much of a promising harbinger for poor old Sean Dyche). Throw in the fact that Porto have played 24 competitive matches in England and have yet to win one (D3 L21) and all signs point to YES for Vítor Pereira and his charges. The winner of this tie gets to play the victor of Aston Villa and Bologna, and the prospect of an ATVLand rammy for a place in the final is almost too much excitement for a brain to contain. So come on Forest, giddy up Villa, let’s make this happen. Kick-off is at 8pm BST, with the scores level at 1-1 after the fiasco-tinged first leg. It’s on!