Nottingham Forest overturned a first-leg deficit to progress to the quarter-final of the Europa League at the expense of FC Midtjylland.
Nicolas Dominguez and Ryan Yates put Forest in the driving seat, but Martin Erlic’s goal restored parity and sent the game to extra time.
Who was your Man of the Match from the second leg win over FC Midtjylland?
The penalties were never in doubt for Forest, with the Reds scoring all three and the hosts failing to find the target with any of their efforts.
Andy Reid and James Perch were both on media duties last night, and the pair of former Forest players agreed on who the Reds’ best player was during the famous win.
Nottingham Forest star Ryan Yates
Photo by Patrik Lundin/Getty Images
Andy Reid and James Perch agree on Ryan Yates’ performance vs Midtjylland
Vitor Pereira made nine changes from Sunday’s team against Fulham and the players who came in all staked a claim for a place in the team going forward.
One of those was Yates, and his performance typified his importance within the Forest squad, with his goal a peach of an effort that will live long in the memory of the fans.
Reid is still involved with the academy at Forest, and he told TNT Sports exactly what he loves about Yates following the penalty shootout win for the Reds.
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He said: “When you’re in the trenches, he’s what you want to look across and see. You need players like Ryan Yates, and he was brilliant tonight, as well as Nicolas Dominguez, to be honest. He’s an academy graduate, and to be honest, this is so special for him.”
Perch echoed the sentiments regarding the Forest captain on BBC Radio Nottingham and felt he deserved his flowers for his efforts in Denmark.
He added: “If I was going to say who was your star man, I’d say Yatesy…it was a proper captain’s performance, and it just shows what type of lad he is having been out of the starting eleven for so long.”
Ryan Yates statistics vs Midtjylland
Yates was absolutely brilliant against Midtjylland, and this was a performance that he can be seriously proud of, given that he scored a superb goal to haul Forest ahead in the tie.
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The midfielder almost won it for Forest at the death too, with his header in extra time beating the goalkeeper, but not VAR, who ruled that he had strayed offside.
Yates has showcased that he’s ready when called upon in the Premier League, and with more Europa League games now to come, it’s important that the fringe players remain ready.
Pereira now has a very big challenge to pick a team against Tottenham this weekend, and Yates will undoubtedly be on the mind of the head coach.
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