Nottingham Forest reach first European semi-final since 1984 against Villa

Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win over 10-man FC Porto at the City Ground on 16 April 2026 sent the club into its first European semi-final since 1984, a 2-1 aggregate victory that restored continental status to a side that has spent decades outside the elite knockout stage. The result carried extra weight because it arrived in a tight tie decided by one goal and one discipline lapse, the kind of margin Forest have repeatedly learned to manage on this run.

The route to the last four has been built on hard edges. Forest beat Fenerbahce 4-2 on aggregate, then came through a 2-2 tie with FC Midtjylland on away goals before finishing Porto in Nottingham. Earlier in the competition, they posted emphatic group-stage wins, 4-0 against Ferencvaros and 3-0 against Malmö FF, with FC Utrecht also part of their Europa League campaign. That mix of clear-cut wins and narrow escapes has given Forest a profile that is now easier to trust: they can open matches up when space appears, but they have also shown they can survive longer, more demanding knockout nights.

The semi-final against Aston Villa, scheduled for Thursday, 30 April 2026, is an all-English tie between two clubs with serious European histories and the same basic prize, a place in a first continental final in decades. Villa reached the last four after a 4-0 second-leg win over Bologna, and their strong league-phase form has kept them firmly in the conversation as one of the competition’s strongest sides. UEFA’s match page lists João Pinheiro of Portugal as referee for the first leg at the City Ground.

For Forest, the numbers explain why belief has sharpened. They have won the ties that mattered, handled away-goal pressure, and now enter a semi-final on home soil with the burden of history behind them and the evidence of a functional knockout team in front of them. The broader picture also matters: this season’s Europa League has underlined the weight English clubs still carry in Europe, and Forest’s return to this stage, after 42 years, places the club back among the continent’s most relevant names. The reward for that revival is immediate, and the margin for error against Villa will be thinner still.