Nigeria international Ola Aina was in action as Nottingham Forest edged out Midtjylland on penalty shootout, to progress into the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals on Thursday.
Aina, who was named among the substitute, was introduced into the contest with 15 minutes left.
Midtjylland missed all three of their penalties while Nottingham Forest converted their own three spot kicks to advance.
Forest had trailed 1-0 heading into the second leg but registered a 2-1 away victory in Denmark before prevailing 3-0 on penalties.
Goals have evaded Forest for the best part of a tough campaign but they made their quality count on a couple of occasions and then again from the spot to set up a quarter-final clash with either Stuttgart or Porto.
A much-changed Forest side were looking to overturn their narrow deficit from the City Ground last week but Vitor Pereira’s team selection made it seem like the focus was on Premier League survival rather than European qualification.
Forest were dominant but were still unable to breach Elias Rafn Olafsson’s goal when Ryan Yates hit the crossbar and Philip Billing cleared one off the line.
However, they managed to get their deserved opener towards the end of the first period courtesy of Nicolas Dominguez’s header and they edged ahead in the tie through captain Yates’ rocket before Martin Erlic’s strike for the hosts sent the match to extra time.
Lorenzo Lucca and Yates had goals ruled out through offside in extra time and, in the shootout, Midtjylland missed all three from the spot while Forest were perfect.
The Danish team had won both of their previous two Europa League meetings with Forest coming into the match but it was the English side that prevailed when it mattered the most to continue their European adventure.
