Nottingham Forest beat Aston Villa 1-0 in the Europa League semi-final first leg on April 30, 2026. The europa league results leave Villa trailing after Wood converted a penalty that found the top corner, and Aston Villa must overturn a one-goal deficit next week.
Wood's Penalty Settles Match
Wood scored a penalty into the top corner after a Lucas Digne handball to give Forest the win. The spot-kick produced the only goal of the match and delivered Forest a narrow but decisive advantage heading into the second leg.
Emiliano Martinez Save Moment
Emiliano Martinez made a one-handed save earlier in the match to keep it goalless, denying Forest before the penalty opened the scoring. That stop stands out as the key intervention for Villa; without it the match could have been decisively different before the decisive handball incident.
Unai Emery Blasts VAR Decision
Unai Emery addressed three clear threads after the game, starting with his view of officiating: "The referee - fantastic, fantastic job, 10 out of 10, I appreciated how he managed the match for 90 minutes." Emery then turned to the incident that he says changed the rhythm: "Fantastic the referee, fantastic. But the VAR is so so bad. It's a clear red card, I don't understand why the VAR is not calling the referee because it's so clear. It's a huge, huge mistake. VAR is responsible."
On the challenge that sparked his anger Emery supplied graphic language about the risk to his player: "I watched it back - wow. Huge. He could break his ankle. VAR where are you? It is your responsibility, we are professionals. It was so clear for everybody. He could break his ankle. It's not fair."
Emery also assessed his team's performance in measured terms: "We couldn't score, we conceded, but we controlled. We lost but did the match we planned. We had our chances to score and had momentum. We were successful in stopping their high press, the match was going like we planned. We defended well. The penalty was one action that happened." He added operationally that he would review the Digne incident with the squad: "I didn't watch the action or speak with him [Lucas Digne]. Tomorrow we will speak about everything. After analysis we can take something clear."
The VAR dispute creates immediate friction for Villa: Emery rates the on-field referee highly yet insists VAR failed to act on a challenge he views as capable of causing a severe ankle injury to Ollie Watkins. That contradiction frames Villa's task — they believe they ran the match plan but still face a deficit to erase.
Forest's win leaves the tie finely balanced. The winner of this semi-final will face Braga or Freiburg in the Europa League final on 20 May, so the margin from this first leg carries direct consequences for who advances. Emery closed by refocusing his squad on the return leg: "After their goal the most important thing was not to lose our mind and to keep our game plan. They were exited, pushing well. After the goal we kept same idea to draw the match, but more important was not to concede another goal. The match is not finished, it continues next week. We must come back."
