The European dream lives on for Nottingham Forest and the plates keep spinning for Vitor Pereira.
A first quarter-final in 30 years, courtesy of a thrilling penalty shootout, even if at the cost of another half an hour into the jaded legs of Forest’s stars with an almighty relegation clash with Tottenham looming on Sunday afternoon.
But who cares about that right now? Nights like this build momentum and belief and, boy, Forest have needed some of that in recent weeks and who better than beloved captain Ryan Yates to inspire it.
It was his thunderous left-footed strike that first put his boyhood club ahead on aggregate and it was his header late into extra-time that almost won it at the death were it not for the offside flag.
With Elliot Anderson now suspended for the first leg of the quarter-final after an extra-time yellow card, Pereira will likely need to call on his skipper once again.
‘I am just buzzing we are through,’ said Yates. ‘We are still dreaming. That winning feeling is special, you want to keep that momentum going. Momentum at this stage of the season is huge.’
Ryan Yates and his Nottingham Forest team-mates beat Midtjylland on penalties on Thursday
On a memorable night for Forest, Nicolas Dominguez scored their opener with this header
It might have been usual suspects Morgan Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Neco Williams who made it count in the shootout, but it was Forest’s fringe players who were the real stars.
And if the second string can perform like this, perhaps Pereira can keep up his balancing act a few months longer, keep feeding owner Evangelos Marinakis’s hunger for Champions League football, and keep Forest in the Premier League to boot.
Because his team selection made clear which plate he was most happy to let fall. In truth, he had little choice. He picked a full-strength team for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie and still lost and then, three days later, couldn’t beat Fulham at home. Even with only a one-goal deficit to overturn, the prospect of Spurs on Sunday was simply too important to compromise.
So, nine changes it was. The big hitters on the bench. But who needs Anderson when you have Yates? Who needs Gibbs-White when you have James McAtee pulling the strings?
‘We are very happy,’ said Pereira. ‘We proved that we are able to compete, that we have good talented players. I am very happy because I had chance to balance the energy of the players to prepare for the next game.’
For much of the first half, though, the concern was that the fringe players were suffering from the same old problems. Shot after shot with nothing to show for it. Yates thumped the crossbar in the first half. Lorenzo Lucca shinned a gift over the top from eight yards. McAtee forced a diving save from Elias Olafsson. Midtjylland midfielder Phillip Billing hacked the ball off the line.
Then with four minutes to go until the break, Nicolas Dominguez looped a header over the sprawling goalkeeper. Forest needed another and Yates, who joined the club aged eight, was the man to provide it from the edge of the area.
The irony of it all was that it was only when Pereira sent for the cavalry that they lost control of the game. Just eight minutes after Gibbs-White, Murillo and Williams came off the bench, Martin Erlic rifled past Stefan Ortega, who was needed again to deny Cho Gue-Sung a winner late on and then again in extra-time.
By the time the shootout came around, all Forest needed was the post. Cho and Aral Simsir both struck the same upright before Edward Chilufya slipped and put his crucial effort even wider.
