Analysis: Desperately disappointing end
Nottingham Forest were well beaten and never looked like defending the hard-earned first-leg lead. Chris Wood barely had scraps to feed off and James McAtee was replaced by Ryan Yates at half-time, having failed to make an impact. Elliot Anderson, so controlling in the first leg, was a near passenger in midfield as he was unable to get a grip on the game.
[Getty Images] Nottingham Forest were well beaten and never looked like defending the hard-earned first-leg lead. The visitors lacked ingenuity and intelligence going forward. Chris Wood barely had scraps to feed off and James McAtee was replaced by Ryan Yates at half-time, having failed to make an impact.
Elliot Anderson, so controlling in the first leg, was a near passenger in midfield as he was unable to get a grip on the game. After all the positivity following the first leg and the impact head coach Vitor Pereira has made in barely three months at the club, this was a desperately disappointing end to Forest's first European campaign in 30 years. Yet the club have come a long way in four years since promotion back to the Premier League and a reflection on that journey is needed amid the pain that will be felt.
This has been a chaotic season, with four managers, a relegation battle and now a European semi-final exit, but Forest do not do anonymity. Perhaps stability is what they need next season, to settle under Pereira, but recent history would suggest that is unlikely.