Nottingham Forest suffered a 1-0 home defeat to FC Midtjylland in the first leg of the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League last 16 in terrible weather conditions on Thursday, while Olympique Lyonnais snatched a late 1-1 draw against 10-man Celta Vigo.
Elsewhere, Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros defeated Braga 2-0 and Genk beat Freiburg 1-0 at home.
Forest had hoped to put aside their Premier League relegation battle with a European win, but for the second time this season, Danish side Midtjylland emerged victorious at the City Ground after winning 3-2 in the league stage.
The host created plenty of chances in the first half. Omari Hutchinson’s shot from outside the area forced goalkeeper Elias Rafn Olafsson to make a diving save.
Olafsson parried a powerful strike from Ola Aina, with Igor Jesus sending the rebound wide, and the Midtjylland keeper was again in action to tip over Elliot Anderson’s effort.
In the heavy rain after the break, Valdemar Byskov, substitute from Midtjylland, had two chances in quick succession; his first was cleared by Forest keeper Matz Sels, and from the resulting corner he smashed a shot onto the crossbar.
The rain subsided, but there was plenty of water on the field, which made playing conditions difficult. Anderson did well to work his way into the penalty area, but his shot never troubled Olafsson.
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Midtjylland found the winner with 10 minutes to go, with Ousmane Diao driving a cross into the penalty area, where Cho Gue-sung got in front of his marker Aina to guide a header past Sels into the bottom corner.
LYON LATE LEVEL
Williot Swedberg’s cross to the edge of the six-yard box, which was tapped into the net by Javi Rueda, gave Celta a 25th-minute lead, but the hosts were reduced to ten men ten minutes after the break when Borja Iglesias was shown a second yellow card.
Lyon surged forward in search of an equalizer, with Steeve Kango hitting the post and Ionut Radu making a great save from Roman Yaremchuk’s header.
The home team almost held on, but Endrick’s shot from outside the area crept under Radu with three minutes to go psf3.
Gabi Kanichowsky put Ferencvaros ahead in the 32nd minute, controlling Lenny Joseph’s pass before firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Joseph doubled the lead with 21 minutes to go, Cebrails Makreckis bursting down the right wing before rolling the ball over for Joseph to fly into the net.
Genk’s Zakaria El Ouahd scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute with a brilliant half-volley, completing a smart one-two with Bryan Heynen to beat Freiburg.
Published on March 13, 2026
