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An affirming feature of Cup competitions is getting to enjoy clubs, players, managers and supporters enjoying and detesting their biggest game in generations. But what is much rarer is to have two teams, from neighbouring regions, competing against each other in a contest which means that much to both, and is vitally important in its own right.

The specific dynamics of our match this evening are also special. Villa are the superior team, fifth in the league having spent much of the campaign higher – there was, briefly, talk of a title challenge – but they’ve struggled in recent months and arrive at this evening in spotty form. Forest, meanwhile, are the inferior team, 16th in the league having spent much of the campaign lower – there is, still, talk of a relegation battle – but they’ve improved in recent weeks and arrive at this evening in top form.

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been speaking ahead of Sunday’s Merseyside derby. Here he is on Hugo Ekitike’s Achilles tendon injury which has ruled the Frenchman out for the rest of the season and this summer’s World Cup.

He hasn’t been operated on yet. Devastating for him coming to a new club having so much impact straight away. Playing against your former club in the Champions League quarter-final with so much to come for him in the summer.

My first thoughts are with him being out for such a long time, missing out on so many special moments. But it is not the first and not the last player who experienced something like this at the start of their career, and there are so many examples of players coming back even stronger.

The final whistle brought a second of relief before the celebrations truly kicked in after Nottingham Forest secured a place in the Europa League semi-finals. It should have been easier but nothing is simple at the City Ground as they made hard work of overcoming Porto, who played almost the entire match with 10 men.

Morgan Gibbs-White settled the match, to set up an all-English clash with Aston Villa for a place in the final. His goal came in the aftermath of Jan Bednarek’s early sending off and should have laid the foundations for more but Forest’s finishing was poor, forcing them to grind out the victory by surviving Porto hitting the crossbar twice. Even so, the ultimate jubilation was reminiscent of those great nights of the 1980s under Brian Clough when the club last reached this stage in Europe.

Ollie Watkins kickstarted Aston ­Villa’s perfect evening as his 100th goal for the club enabled Unai Emery’s side to cruise into an all-English Europa League semi-final against ­Nottingham Forest.

The England striker, seeking a late recall into Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad, tapped home in the 16th minute before goals from Emiliano Buendía and Morgan Rogers, making amends for a spurned penalty, put the tie to bed by half-time.

Morgan Gibbs-White scored the only goal against a resilient ten-man Porto, as Forest reached their first European semi-final for 42 years

4 min: Sangare releases Gibbs-White down the right. Promising for Forest … until the whistle goes, Sangare having come through the back of Alberto Costa on the touchline. The correct decision, if annoyingly belated from a Forest point of view, everyone all excited for a second.

2 min: It’s an absolutely belting atmosphere, both sets of fans giving it plenty. But Porto nearly quieten the home fans in short order, Moffi latching onto a prod down the inside-right channel and attempting to flick past Ortega. The Forest keeper swipes away. The rebound falls to William Gomes, who blazes over. Yikes.

Ollie Watkins’s 100th Aston Villa goal set up a dominant victory as Unai Emery’s side teed up a semi-final with Nottingham Forest

3 mins: A few Villa players are a yellow card away from suspension: Cash, Rogers, McGinn, Digne and substitute Victor Lindelof. Bookings are wiped out for the semi-finals, but suspensions aren’t, so all five must tread carefully.

2 mins: Emi Buendia tries to bend one on target from the edge of the area, but sees his shot blocked.

• Sponsorship income due to rise by more than 40%

• Champions League clubs to benefit from the growth

Uefa is poised to bring in more than €1bn (£870m) a year in commercial revenues from club competitions from next year, with two more global sponsorship deals close to being agreed.

UC3, the commercial joint venture owned by Uefa and the clubs, is finalising agreements with an official payments provider and technology partner, which would complete their roster of premium global partners and see sponsorship income rise by more than 40%. Six-year deals with AB InBev as Uefa’s official beer partner and Pepsi as soft drinks provider from 2027 to 2033 have already been agreed, while Nike last week entered exclusive negotiations to replace Adidas as Uefa’s match ball provider.

There was a heady atmosphere in Bologna before this match, with flags flying everywhere and the legend “weareone” plastered on the walls of the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara. Into this fervent atmosphere stepped Aston Villa, with warnings against complacency from their manager ringing in their ears. The Premier League side did not play well and were second best for much of the night, but they did stay supremely cool and turned the nervous energy of their hosts back on them to take a two-goal lead home to Birmingham.

Ezri Konsa opened the scoring after a gaffe by the goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia, before a second-half double from Ollie Watkins determined the outcome of the match and overwrote Jonathan Rowe’s late goal for the hosts. Bologna’s Englishman, a former Norwich City winger, was likely the man of the match, but Watkins’ ability to remain calm in pressured situations will surely prove the more decisive factor in this tie.

On the night Chris Wood returned from six months on the sidelines, a freakish own goal by the Porto defender Martim Fernandes earned Nottingham Forest a draw and fostered optimism of advancing to the Europa League semi-finals.

The New Zealand striker was withdrawn at the interval, Vitor Pereira mindful of the bigger picture with Sunday’s home match against Aston Villa the first of seven matches Forest have to preserve their Premier League status. This all remains a juggling act for Pereira, back here in the red corner for the first time since guiding Porto to successive titles.

Ollie Watkins scored twice to give Unai Emery’s side a healthy advantage before the return leg at home

The players are out. The DJ presses play on the Unai Emery anthem.

Federico Bernardeschi has just a couple of goals in Serie A for Bologna this season – but he’s their leading man in the Europa League, with five this campaign. He scored in both legs of their last-16 triumph against Roma.

A ludicrous Martim Fernandes own goal allowed Nottingham Forest to leave Porto level going into the second leg

Thiago Silva is at the back for Porto, at a very young 41. He must ruddy love football. I would have been a deck chair long ago. It is, however, nice to know there are still a few active footballers who are older than me.

This is relevant, in many ways, to this game.

The New Zealand striker provides a welcome boost as Forest face crunch games in the league and in Europe

Nobody has scored more goals in the Europa League this season than Igor Jesus and yet the overwhelming source of interest surrounding Nottingham Forest on arrival in northern Portugal on Wednesday was another striker. Only Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak outscored Chris Wood in the Premier League last season and the New Zealand frontman has been slowly building fitness and working towards a long-awaited first-team return.

All eyes were on Wood at last weekend’s interactive open-training session, staged at the City Ground. He has been ticking off different targets since knee surgery in December and at the end of last month the 34-year-old made a welcome goalscoring comeback 11 minutes into his return to action for Forest under-21s against Newcastle, in modest surroundings at Loughborough University’s stadium in front of a crowd totalling a couple of hundred: students, Forest fans, a few from the north-east.

• Italian side defeated Roma in Europa League last 16

• Emery has won competition four times as a manager

Unai Emery has warned his Aston Villa side to respect Bologna, and the Europa League itself, if they are to continue their progress in the competition with victory over their Italian opponents.

Describing the Serie A side as “a winner team”, Emery said Villa could not be considered favourites for this quarter-final as he sought to ensure his players’ heads are in the game following the extended international break that means Villa haven’t played a competitive match since 22 March.

Plus: teams who went out of Europe without losing a game, and rare competitive meetings

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“What’s the furthest a team has gone in Europe while being relegated in the same season?” wonders Matt Reilly.

This question was probably asked in reference to Tottenham, who were still in the Champions League at the time, but it’s still relevant to some of this year’s quarter-finalists. Nottingham Forest are three points above the relegation places in the Premier League; Fiorentina only have a five-point cushion in Serie A.

Real Zaragoza 2001-02, first round; 2007-08, first round

Alavés 2002-03, second round

Celta Vigo 2006-07, last 16

Real Zaragoza 2007-08, first round

Real Betis 2013-14, last 16

Espanyol 2019-20, last 32

Blackburn Rovers 1998-99, Uefa Cup first round

Bradford City 2000-01, Intertoto semi-final

Ipswich Town 2001-02, Uefa Cup third round

Ruda Hvezda Brno 1960-61, Cup Winners’ Cup

Dynamo Zilina 1961-62, Cup Winners’ Cup

Espanyol 1961-62. Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Napoli 1962-63, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bayern Munich 1962-63, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

1. FC Magdeburg 1965-66, Cup Winners’ Cup

Lyn 1968-69, Cup Winners’ Cup

Beroe Stara Zagora 1973-74, Cup Winners’ Cup

Real Betis 1977-78, Cup Winners’ Cup

Bologna 1990-91, Uefa Cup

First round Artmedia Bratislavia (2-2 away, 3-1 home)

Group stage Sparta Prague (2-0 away), Zulte Waregem (6-2 home), Ajax (2-0 away), Austria Wien (1-0 home)

Last 32 Livorno (2-1 away, 2-0 home)

Last 16 Maccabi Haifa (0-0 away, 4-0 home)

Quarter-final Benfica (3-2 home, 0-0 away)

Semi-final Werder Bremen (3-0 home, 2-1 away)

Final Sevilla 2-2 (1-3 pens)

Italy have been left behind with man-marking approach, and if Germany go down this path it could happen to them too

In Germany, coaches used to say: “Follow your opponent right into the loo!” That was the call to man-mark. So defenders weren’t meant to think too deeply. This retro tactical approach has been making an unexpected comeback since Atalanta won the Europa League in 2024 using this method.

Against a team with a significantly superior individual quality, you naturally don’t stand a chance with man-marking. Atalanta had to learn that the hard way in the Champions League last 16. Bayern enjoyed absurdly vast spaces and scored 10 goals. Rarely has a knockout-stage match been so one-sided.

Progress to the quarter-finals of the competition that made Unai Emery’s reputation, the Europa League continues to offer sanctuary for Aston Villa. Their second leg with Lille was completed without drama, the welcome sight of John McGinn’s goal soothing fans’ nerves. Villa had sorely missed their Scottish standard bearer, though the contributions of Emi Martínez, in making a save then launching an attack, and Jadon Sancho in supplying McGinn in a flowing move that took 15 seconds were equally crucial.

“The matches were not so brilliant,” said Emery, who qualified for the competition’s quarter-final for the eighth time, a record; he has won it four times previously.

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2 min: … but that was a fast start by Villa, and they’ve clearly been told to get right into Lille during the early exchanges. They’re first to everything at the moment. Small sample size, admittedly.

1 min: Abraham gets lively quickly. He steals the ball off a snoozing Bouaddi and feeds McGinn down the inside-left channel. McGinn attempts something spectacular from distance. It doesn’t come off, dribbling harmlessly wide right.

Forest made their first European quarter-final in 30 years, wining 2-1 on the night and 3-0 on penalties to set up a last-eight meeting with either Porto or Stuttgart

Question: what is the exact thing the Premier League – and wider world of football – does not need?

Answer: this.

Nottingham Forest seek to overturn a one-goal Europa League deficit against a familiar foe who were early champions of the set piece

“I like a bit of chaos and structure both on and off the pitch,” says Midtjylland’s technical director, Kristian Kjær. “Getting the right mix is most important.” Perfecting this balance has enabled the Danish side to thrive in Europe, powered by a global recruitment model and innovation.

Nottingham Forest travel to the MCH Arena on Thursday seeking to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, having also lost to Midtjylland in the group stage this season. This is the furthest the Danish club, founded in 1999, have progressed in Europe. “It must have been insane to be starting the club [just over] 25 years ago and then see where we are today,” says Kjær. “What a ride.”