Elliot Anderson must brace himself for the fury of Villa Park next week after Unai Emery accused the Nottingham Forest midfielder of coming close to breaking Ollie Watkins’ ankle.
This absorbing tie remains in the balance after Chris Wood’s second-half penalty gave Forest a narrow lead over Aston Villa. A place in next month’s Europa League Final is up for grabs.
Fans will remember Wood’s goal and Emi Martinez’s stunning save from Igor Jesus, but those who witnessed Emery’s reaction know there will be fireworks next week.
Emery rarely criticises officials. ‘I accept it,’ is one of the phrases he uses the most. Not this time. Before they faced the media, Villa’s director of football Damian Vidagany had already launched a tirade on X and Emery was in no mood to calm the waters.
This is what made Emery so angry. Midway through the first half, Anderson slid towards Watkins and his studs speared the Villa forward’s ankle, leaving him in severe pain. No free-kick was given by referee Joao Pinheiro. No wonder Anderson jogged away with a grin on his face.
Emery did not see the incident in real time but once he had seen the replays, the Spaniard was furious. ‘It’s a huge mistake because Watkins was close to breaking his ankle,’ he said. ‘It is the responsibility of the VAR. I don’t understand it and he must give us an explanation because it’s crazy. VAR, where are you?’
Nottingham Forest won a tense first leg against Aston Villa at the City Ground on Thursday
Forest were awarded a penalty for handball against Lucas Digne following a VAR intervention
Anderson has the character to handle whatever the Villa fans throw at him but it will be a hot reception for sure. And were it not for Martinez, Forest would surely have led by more than one goal and now be daring to think about a Final against Braga or Freiburg.
Martinez is a master at winding up opponents, supporters and maybe even his own coaches and team-mates. At times, he can be a pain in the neck. He is also capable of making saves to take your breath away.
True, Martinez could not keep out Wood’s nerveless spot-kick. But if Villa do keep alive Unai Emery’s dream of a fifth Europa League title, they owe Martinez a case of the finest Argentinian Malbec. It would be no surprise if Martinez left Villa this summer and he will want to depart on a high. If he does so, they will still be talking about the save from Jesus for decades to come.
Forest will be pretty happy, though. They were without key players here and still managed to claim an advantage, with Anderson again outstanding in midfield, the Watkins incident notwithstanding. This was some occasion between two former European Cup winners and it will be even better at Villa Park with so much at stake.
Villa are likely to finish in the Premier League’s top five and Forest would be happy just to be fifth bottom but there was nothing to separate the sides before the break.
The start matched the nerve-shaking atmosphere as Morgan Rogers’ shot was blocked by Neco Williams and then at the other end Jesus took Omari Hutchinson’s cross away from Wood as he shaped to shoot. Youri Tielemans then robbed Jesus and when he took a return pass, Stefan Ortega moved well to keep out the Belgian’s 20-yard effort.
Both coaches seemed to have told their sides to take only calculated risks in possession. If so, Ola Aina had not read the script as the Forest defender’s header back towards Ortega was so nearly intercepted by Emi Buendia. The City Ground exhaled as one.
Amadou Onana had been a fitness doubt before this game and he showed his importance to Villa with a series of shuddering tackles.
Now to Martinez’s moment. The Argentine made one of the saves of the season here last year, from Nicolas Dominguez, and this was possibly even better. Anderson’s chip found Morgan Gibbs-White and Jesus volleyed the cross goalwards from eight yards. Not only did Martinez block it, he recovered quickly enough to stop the ball rolling over the line. Villa defenders Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa could not quite believe their eyes. Sensational stuff.
Wood fired home from the spot to give Forest the lead on the night and in the semi-final
It was a game of few chances but Emi Martinez did have to be at his best to deny Igor Jesus
Though Watkins was looking sharp, he was given nothing by the officials. After the Anderson tackle, Watkins was then barged over by Dominguez as he bore down on goal.
This made Watkins understandably grumpy and sure enough, close to half-time, he barrelled towards Anderson like an angry rhinoceros and flattened him with a classic late lunge. Despite his Forest connections, Roy Keane would have been proud of that one.
So often interrupted by injury, Onana had to throw in the towel 10 minutes into the second half after producing a vital defensive header.
These days, it seems impossible to have a game without VAR taking centre stage. So when Hutchinson tried to turn the ball back into the box and it hit Lucas Digne’s raised arm, we all knew what was coming. Wood hammered it into the top corner and the Forest subs raced down the touchline to celebrate with their colleagues as Emery urged his players to take a deep breath. They tried to respond quickly and Digne swung over a cross that Rogers could not guide on target.
Both dugouts knew how fine the margins were and during a break in place, Pereira beckoned Gibbs-White to the sideline to show him a sheaf of notes. The final chapters of this fascinating tale have still to be written.
