NOTTINGHAM -- This Europa League semifinal first leg was the classic Rorschach Test.
Nottingham Forest fans head off having seen Chris Wood's thunderous penalty, the effortless ease of Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White and their 1-0 win. Aston Villa's travelling contingent will bemoan VAR, Lucas Digne's outstretched hands, and chances missed.
And then there are those watching this through an England gaze. They'd have seen Anderson excel and Gibbs-White make a compelling case to gatecrash the England squad for the World Cup, while on the flip side, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins never quite hit the levels we've seen recently. And for neutrals? Well, they witnessed a match played at 2x speed, full of frantic moments, and a world-class save from Emi Martinez.
But Anderson and Gibbs-White aside, fundamentally, this was yet another match decided by VAR, a call which took eons to make. The contentious moment came in the 68th minute as Omari Hutchison just about managed to keep the ball in and managed to hook it back into the penalty area. The ball hit one of Digne's two outstretched arms. The penalty was a correct call, but the length of time it took to make that call? Painful.
And perhaps Anderson was a little lucky to escape further censure for his tackle on Watkins in the first half which will leave his England colleague with some very defined stud marks for a week or two.
But Forest fans will care little. They hold the advantage ahead of the return leg at Villa Park next week.
Regardless of whether you unscrambled this match to see a rabbit or a pig, this was your archetypal Europa League semifinal. Neither team wanted for lack of effort, and it was played at a frenetic tempo. The pressing was suffocating. But in a match where space was at a premium, Anderson found it. No wonder this 23-year-old is so coveted by Manchester City and Manchester United. He can stop time, but also magic opportunity. There was a spell in the second half where Gibbs-White danced down Villa's right side, and left two defenders for dead with a backheel which found Anderson. Anderson nutmegged the Villa defender to put Gibbs-White back away -- who then re-found Anderson, who promptly threaded it through another Villa player's legs to find Gibbs-White again. It was mesmeric, and how the Forest faithful loved it. Those echoes of their glorious past are clearing their throat again.
It's impossible to avoid being overwhelmed by nostalgia at the City Ground. You have the stands named after Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, the double act who masterminded Nottingham Forest's European Cup triumphs in 1979 and 1980. The reminders of that era are everywhere here, from the images of that great team plastered all over the interior of the ground and players like Garry Birtles on commentary duty.
"Our generation was desperate for this generation to take on the mantle and get to a final -- and perhaps win it," Birtles said on the BBC.
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A little further back into the centre of town is the statue of Clough. Current Forest manager Vitor Pereira went and visited it this week. "He's in the city centre because he did something fantastic that stays in the heart of these people until now ... we try to do our best to emulate what he did," Pereira said. You also get two renditions of Mull of Kintyre - the song synonymous with Forest's two European Cup wins.
Promotions and playoff triumphs aside, Forest's last major trophy was the League Cup in 1990; Villa's came in the same competition in 1996. Nostalgia too engulfs you at Villa Park -- the commentary of Peter Withe's European Cup-winning goal in 1982 hugs the North Stand. And in recent times, it's been Villa who have come closest to emulating the feats of previous generations who have triumphed in Europe. Emery led them to the 2024 Conference League semifinal, but this is a group that has one foot in the Champions League next season, lying fifth in the Premier League. In contrast, Forest are trying to claw themselves out of a relegation battle, sitting in 16th and on their fourth manager this season, with Pereira following Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche. It's never dull on the banks of the Trent.
Every Forest side has lived in the shadow of the great Clough era. But it's a pressure you have to step into. Before kick-off on this balmy Thursday evening, the Forest fans in the Trent End unveiled a banner reading: "A European heritage forged long ago, now rediscovered." Then came the tifo of their European Cup-winning captains, and a mosaic of their two European stars. But they have their own heroes now, whether it's the much-admired Anderson or the excellent Gibbs-White, while there were plenty of Ola Aina shirts in the crowd, too. Those 39 days of Postecoglou's tenure must seem like they're from another lifetime.
It was a wonderfully watchable game. Rogers had a shot well-saved by Stefan Ortega in the first half, but it was Emi Martinez who pulled off a contortionist effort to keep out an Igor Jesus volley, which you had to see to believe. It came in the 32nd minute after yet another Anderson-Gibbs-White link-up, the ball found Jesus about eight yards out. Martinez had already passed the ball, but somehow spun himself back to keep it out. The man himself looked stunned at what he had achieved.
Watkins and Rogers continued trying to pull Forest's defence out of position at the other end, and Watkins should have scored in the second half, but his volley was hit straight at Ortega. An inch either side and it'd have been a goal.
But eventually it was Wood's penalty that decided it. Wood struck it with such venom that it was as if he was exorcising the frustration of an injury-troubled season. Though these teams are at differing ends of the Premier League, it was slim margins which split them on this balmy evening as we wait a week to do this all over again at Villa Park.
Forest fans will be delighted. For a team that looked doomed to relegation not so long ago, they're now dreaming of a European final and Premier League survival. Villa have the master of these occasions in Unai Emery -- he of the four Europa League titles -- so he'll have a plan. This is far from done.