Late Midtjylland winner sinks Nottingham Forest in UEL first leg

Nottingham Forest suffered another Europa League defeat to Midtjylland after Cho Gue-Sung's late header earned the Danish side a 1-0 win at the City Ground in the last-16 first leg.

Forest were aiming to avenge their previous loss to Midtjylland, who came to Nottingham back in October and won 3-2, but were unable to stop history from repeating itself to leave the Reds trailing heading into the return fixture next week.

After the game, Midtjylland went over to celebrate with their fans for several minutes before celebrations continued in the dressing room with loud music.

Midtjylland are unbeaten in all competitions at home but Forest boss Vitor Pereira warned the tie is not over and thinks the Danish team were celebrating too early.

He said: "In the end, they created two chances and scored one goal. We are in half-time, because they [Midtjylland] are celebrating a lot. It's like they finished the game today but it's not finished.

"Now it's time to recover physically and mentally because it will be another challenge for us, and after we will see what we do there in the second game."

The home side could not find a way past goalkeeper Elias Rafn Olafsson, who made a string of saves to keep it goalless at the break.

Severe weather conditions in the second half then became an obstacle that both sides had to play through but Midtjylland continued to frustrate the Premier League side, who accumulated 22 shots through the game.

Attacks for the Danish visitors were few and far between but they still posed a threat, and the woodwork came to Forest's rescue before Cho headed beyond keeper Matz Sels for the all-important winner.

"I cannot say to my players you didn't do everything to win the game because they did it. They tried everything to score. We tried 22 shots on goal," Pereira added.

"The draw was a bad result looking for what we produced. A defeat is cruel ... cruel day, difficult day, but it's important to keep the spirit, the mentality and to recover.

"Frustrated of course. I'm proud of them [players] because they tried everything with the spirit we want to see."

Forest's last defeat to Midtjylland came under former boss Ange Postecoglou but the recent appointment of Pereira was unable to stop the same outcome from happening.

The result stretched Forest's winless run to five games in all competitions as they switch their attention back to their Premier League relegation fight on Sunday with a match against Fulham before trying to change their European fortunes next Thursday in Denmark.

PA contributed to this report.