Nottingham Forest's hopes of Europa League qualification teetered on the brink of collapse after a disastrous 55-second spell in Portugal. A costly penalty miss and an own goal from Ryan Yates proved to be too much for the team to overcome, as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at Braga.
Forest had begun the evening with ambitions of securing a top-eight finish in the Europa League, but their performance ultimately fell woefully short. Despite dominating possession for large swathes of the game, the visitors struggled to create meaningful scoring opportunities against a Braga defence that seemed almost impenetrable.
Morgan Gibbs-White's missed penalty chance proved particularly telling, as he had been presented with a relatively easy opportunity to give his team the lead. However, his effort was saved by the visiting goalkeeper, and 55 seconds later, Ryan Yates had given the ball away to Braga's Sadyr Kazakov, who capitalized on the loose ball to score the opener.
The game quickly became increasingly one-sided, with Forest unable to muster a meaningful response to Braga's second goal. As the clock ticked down, the visitors were left reeling from their own mistakes, including an unfortunate sending off for Elliot Anderson towards the end of the match.
Manager Sean Dyche expressed his frustration at his team's performance, citing the loss as "a mess" and acknowledging that Forest had been "hard done by" to lose. The defeat has dealt a significant blow to the club's hopes of securing Europa League qualification, and it remains to be seen whether they can recover from this setback in time for their final group stage match.
Forest had begun the evening with ambitions of securing a top-eight finish in the Europa League, but their performance ultimately fell woefully short. Despite dominating possession for large swathes of the game, the visitors struggled to create meaningful scoring opportunities against a Braga defence that seemed almost impenetrable.
Morgan Gibbs-White's missed penalty chance proved particularly telling, as he had been presented with a relatively easy opportunity to give his team the lead. However, his effort was saved by the visiting goalkeeper, and 55 seconds later, Ryan Yates had given the ball away to Braga's Sadyr Kazakov, who capitalized on the loose ball to score the opener.
The game quickly became increasingly one-sided, with Forest unable to muster a meaningful response to Braga's second goal. As the clock ticked down, the visitors were left reeling from their own mistakes, including an unfortunate sending off for Elliot Anderson towards the end of the match.
Manager Sean Dyche expressed his frustration at his team's performance, citing the loss as "a mess" and acknowledging that Forest had been "hard done by" to lose. The defeat has dealt a significant blow to the club's hopes of securing Europa League qualification, and it remains to be seen whether they can recover from this setback in time for their final group stage match.