Bizarre own goal keeps Nottingham Forest’s European hopes alive against Porto

Nottingham Forest’s Europa League hopes remain intact after a comical own goal helped them get out of their quarter-final first leg in Porto with a 1-1 draw.

A much-changed Forest side were under the pump against the Primeira Liga leaders and fell behind to William Gomes’ early strike.

But they were gifted a leveller by hapless Porto defender Martim Fernandes, who sent a 25-yard back-pass into his own net.

Forest had a goal disallowed in the second half, but were reliant on goalkeeper Stefan Ortega making a string of important saves to ensure they head back to the City Ground for next week’s second leg on level terms.

Importantly, they were able to get the result while still being able to keep a number of their important Premier League players fresh ahead of Sunday’s vital clash with Aston Villa.

If Forest can get the job done on home soil next week, it looks highly likely as if Villa will be waiting in the semi-final after they won their first leg against Bologna.

Indeed, Villa were clearly on boss Vitor Pereira’s mind.

Forest were playing their first European quarter-final since losing to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup 30 years ago, but the Portuguese made it clear what his priority is, making nine changes to the side that beat Tottenham in the Premier League before the international break.

One of them was the returning Chris Wood, who was playing his first match since mid-October following a knee injury.

And Wood had not touched the ball by the time Forest should have been behind inside 40 seconds.

Seko Fofana was sent clear down the right and he squared for Terem Moffi, whose shot was too close to Ortega, with the Forest goalkeeper then keeping out Borja Sainz’s follow-up effort.

It was little surprise when Porto took