Nottingham Forest reached the Europa League quarter-finals with a penalty shoot-out victory over Midtjylland after boss Vitor Pereira benched a host of key players ahead of their crunch Premier League fixture against Tottenham on Sunday.
Pereira said he did what he “must do” in making nine changes from last weekend’s match against Fulham, benching the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson and Igor Jesus, before facing their relegation rivals, who sit one point above them, live on Sky Sports.
Midtjylland held a one-goal lead after beating Forest for the second time this season in the first leg, but goals either side of half-time from Nicolas Dominguez’s header and Ryan Yates’ arrowed shot deservedly put the visitors ahead in the tie.
Sunday 22nd March 2:00pm
Kick off 2:15pm
First-team regulars Gibbs-White, Anderson, Murillo, Ola Aina and Neco Williams all came on during the second half, but they couldn’t prevent Martin Elic from smashing the hosts level with 20 minutes remaining.
Forest striker Lorenzo Lucca and captain Yates both had goals ruled out in extra time for offside as the tie went to penalties before Midtjylland hit the same post twice and then missed their third spot kick while Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Williams expertly dispatched theirs to send Forest through.
More to follow.
Europa League knockout schedule
Quarter-finals: April 9 and 16
Semi-finals: April 30 and May 7
Final: May 20 -Besiktas Stadium, Istanbul