Nottingham Forest’s aspirations for direct passage to the Europa League’s last 16 were dealt a near-fatal blow on a dismal night in Portugal, falling 1-0 to Braga in a match defined by a catastrophic 54-second sequence and culminating in a late red card.
The result leaves Sean Dyche’s side languishing in 15th place in the league phase with 11 points, three adrift of the crucial top-eight cutoff, and now dependent on an improbable set of results in the final round to avoid a congesting two-legged play-off in February.
The decisive moment arrived in a devastating one-minute spell early in the second half. After a tepid first half with little action, Forest were awarded a penalty when James McAtee was felled in the area.
Morgan Gibbs-White stepped up, but his effort was saved by Braga goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek, who dove low to his left to parry the ball away. From the ensuing play, Braga surged forward. Ricardo Horta drove into the box, and his attempted cutback struck the unfortunate Forest captain Ryan Yates before trickling agonizingly over the line.
The own goal, scored less than sixty seconds after the missed penalty, completely shifted the momentum of the match.
Forest’s misery was compounded deep into stoppage time when substitute Elliot Anderson was shown a straight red card for dissent directed at referee Igor Pajac.
The dismissal capped a wretched evening for the English side, who became only the second team in Europa League history to miss a penalty, score an own goal, and have a player sent off in the same game.
The performance drew loud and sustained boos from the travelling supporters at both halftime and full-time, a clear indication of their frustration with a display lacking in cutting edge.
Manager Sean Dyche described the loss as stemming from “one minute of madness,” lamenting his team’s poor reaction immediately after the missed penalty. He also pointed to a significant selection headache, having made seven changes to his lineup and fielding winger Dan Ndoye as a makeshift striker due to injuries to Igor Jesus and Chris Wood, with Taiwo Awoniyi ineligible.
The lack of a focal point in attack was evident throughout a match where Braga remarkably secured victory without registering a single shot on target.
The defeat severely dents Forest’s European ambitions and increases the pressure ahead of a demanding schedule. The club is close to finalizing a loan move for Napoli striker Lorenzo Lucca in hopes of bolstering the squad.
Attention now immediately turns to a Premier League trip to Brentford this Sunday, before a must-win final Europa League group game against Ferencvaros at the City Ground next Thursday, where only a victory and a cascade of favorable results elsewhere can revive their fading hopes of automatic qualification.