Nottingham Forest 1-0 Aston Villa

Aston Villa fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League semi-final.

Chris Wood’s 71^st-minute penalty proved the difference at The City Ground after Lucas Digne was adjudged to have handled Omari Hutchinson’s attempted cross following a VAR review.

Emi Martínez had earlier produced one of the saves of the season to deny Igor Jesus in the first half, a reflex action reminiscent of his stunning award-winning stop at the same stadium in December 2024.

Ollie Watkins was denied by an impressive reaction save from Stefan Ortega amid what was an evenly-balanced encounter against The Reds across the midlands.

It was only Villa’s second defeat in the Europa League this season and ended a run of nine successive wins in the competition.

Yet the tie, the club’s third European semi-final and second in three seasons, remains open and all to play for ahead of next Thursday’s eagerly-anticipated second leg at Villa Park.

Amadou Onana returned to Villa’s starting line-up after injury, the sole change from last Saturday’s narrow Premier League reverse at Fulham, which ended a six-match unbeaten sequence.

One of those was a 1-1 Premier League draw in Nottingham less than three weeks ago, with in-form Forest heading into the tie unbeaten in eight in all competitions.

Villa manager Unai Emery was no stranger to the occasion, with this his seventh Europa League semi-final.

And the visitors made a positive start on the banks of the River Trent, Youri Tielemans seeing his long-range strike parried by Ortega after nine minutes.

It proved the closest either side came in a tight, keenly-contested opening quarter, with Morgan Rogers drawing another parried save from Ortega in the 28^th minute.

Elliot Anderson escaped punishment for a challenge on Watkins before Martínez produced an incredible reaction stop to somehow keep it level.

Forest moved the ball out to Morgan Gibbs-White in the penalty area and his cross into the middle was volleyed goalwards by Jesus from eight yards, only for Martínez to somehow keep it out, quickly turn his body and then gather on the goal-line.

The special save proved crucial as both sides went into the break all square on the back of an evenly-contested opening 45 minutes.

Onana limped off shortly after the restart, replaced by Lamare Bogarde, as Villa looked to make a positive start to the second half.

And they almost got it as Ortega was called upon to make an impressive reflex save of his own, extending an arm to keep out Watkins’ flicked volley from Rogers’ cross.

Yet Villa were punished with 19 minutes remaining as Digne, following a VAR review, was deemed to have handled Hutchinson’s attempted cross on the byline, and Wood stepped up to power the penalty into the top corner.

Boss Emery introduced Douglas Luiz, Ian Maatsen and Jadon Sancho as Villa pushed for a leveller.

It was not to be, though, Tielemans firing over and Sancho denied by Ortega late on as the club’s first all-English encounter in Europe ended in defeat.

However, the tie remains far from over with just one goal separating the two sides ahead of next week’s second leg at Villa Park.