Nottingham Forest coach laments absence of Super Eagles star after UEL exit

Nottingham Forest suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Thursday night in the Europa League, which sent them crashing out of the competition, Afrik-Foot reports.

The Tricky Trees went into the second leg holding a slender one-goal advantage from the first meeting, but conceded four times at Villa Park as their hopes of winning a first European trophy since 1980 came to an end.

Super Eagles defender Ola Aina missed Thursday’s clash after failing to recover in time from the injury he picked up during the second half of the first-leg win at the City Ground. The injury had also ruled him out of Monday’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea, where fellow Nigerian Taiwo Awoniyi grabbed the headlines with a brilliant double.

Nottingham Forest were also without several other key players and fell behind in the 36th minute when Ollie Watkins opened the scoring for Aston Villa.

Emiliano Buendia then doubled Villa’s lead from the penalty spot after a VAR review awarded a spot-kick for Nikola Milenkovic’s foul on Pau Torres. John McGinn later struck twice in three minutes to complete the emphatic win. Aston Villa will now face German side Freiburg in the final in Istanbul on May 20.

Vitor Pereira laments injuries in Nottingham Forest’s Europa League exit

Nottingham Forest travelled to Villa Park without several first-team regulars for Thursday’s second-leg clash, including Super Eagles star Ola Aina, who has been sidelined since picking up an injury in the first leg.

Speaking after the match, head coach Vitor Pereira admitted the absence of several important players proved too costly, as his side struggled to cope with Aston Villa’s intensity.

“Aina, out. Morgan (Gibbs-White) out. Sangare, out. Murillo, out. Callum (Hudson-Odoi), out. Ndoye, out. To bring the full squad we put three injured players on the bench, and we brought three more players from the academy”, Pereira said post-match.

“To compete in a game in these conditions, after a game against Chelsea, and play in a semi-final is not possible. This is why I said we were not able to compete.”

Nottingham Forest will now shift their focus to the Premier League, where they are still battling to secure survival with three matches remaining this season.

The Tricky Trees will also be hoping to have Aina back available for Sunday’s home clash against Newcastle United, where a victory could go a long way in confirming their Premier League safety.