Nottingham Forest v Liverpool (FA Cup 2021-22)

Nottingham Forest v Liverpool (2021-22)

Nottingham Forest Liverpool 0 1
HT:0–0 Report
Event	2021–22 FA Cup
Date	Sunday 20 March 2022
Venue	City Ground, Nottingham
Player of the Match	Joe Worrall
Referee	Craig Pawson
Attendance	28,584
Weather	8 °C (47 °F)
← N' Forest - Reading Liverpool - Brighton N' Forest - Blackpool Liverpool - Watford →

Nottingham Forest v Liverpool was a match which took place at the City Ground on Sunday 20 March 2022.

Liverpool will play Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley after they edged past Nottingham Forest in a pulsating quarter-final at the City Ground.

Diogo Jota scored the only goal of the game for the visitors, prodding in Konstantinos Tsimikas' cross from the left with 12 minutes remaining.

Jurgen Klopp's quadruple-chasing side dominated possession but were made to work for their victory by their relentless Championship opponents.

Steve Cooper's side saw a late penalty appeal turned down by VAR when midfielder Ryan Yates fell after a challenge with Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.

The hosts will also surely regard Philip Zinckernagel's miss as decisive to the outcome, with the Danish winger side-footing wide from six yards from Brennan Johnson's inviting cross just a couple of minutes before Jota's goal.

While Forest had already beaten both Arsenal and Leicester in this season's competition, they found themselves taking a significant step up in class against Liverpool despite Klopp making seven changes to his starting XI.

And while they were galvanised by the electric atmosphere in what was the first meeting between the clubs in the FA Cup since the rescheduled 1989 semi-final that followed the Hillsborough disaster, they spent long periods of the game under severe pressure.

Yates also had a chance to head a late equaliser, but Liverpool, who also carved open several excellent opportunities of their own, deservedly advanced to the last four.

While Forest made an encouraging start despite the absence of three first-choice defenders, Liverpool's Premier League pedigree quickly became evident.

The visitors' slick movement repeatedly caused problems as did the hosts' own attempts to play out from the back.

And had Roberto Firmino not fluffed a golden chance to open the scoring, Klopp's side would have headed into the interval with a deserved advantage and possibly having laid the platform for a more convincing performance.

Instead the Brazilian's attempted dink was well saved by Forest goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, who bailed out his team after Jack Colback's glaring mistake.

Reinforcements were summoned just after the hour mark with Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Takumi Minamino and Luis Diaz all introduced to try and turn the contest in Liverpool's favour.

But having survived a scare at one end of the pitch it was Jota who made the difference with his 19th goal of the campaign - his best ever return in front of goal in a single season.

And it ensured that Liverpool reached the semi-final of the competition for the first time under Klopp and maintained their superb domestic form which has seen them win 13 consecutive games plus the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea after a penalty shootout.

Forest were bottom of the Championship when Cooper took charge in September and the former England Under-17s boss has since overseen a significant upturn in fortunes.

This was only Forest's second defeat since the turn of the year and, while they will take heart from pushing one of Europe's elite clubs so close, they can now focus all of their attention on trying to join Liverpool in the Premier League next term.

Forest are three points off the Championship play-off positions with games in hand on all the sides around them in the table.

And if the likes of Joe Worrall, Joe Garner and Keinan Davis continue to perform in the same vein as they did here, they appear to have the spine of a team capable of reaching the top flight for the first time since 1999.

Match

Details

20 March 2022 18:00 GMT	Nottingham Forest	0–1	Liverpool	City Ground, Nottingham Attendance: 28,584 Referee: Craig Pawson
		HT:0–0 Report	Jota  78'

Nottingham Forest

Liverpool

01 Ethan Horvath 02 Djed Spence 03 Tobias Figueiredo 04 Joe Worrall 08 Jack Colback 90+1' 22 Ryan Yates 37 James Garner 23 Joe Lolley 65' 11 Philip Zinckernagel 78' 20 Brennan Johnson 09 Keinan Davis 77' Substitutes: 06 Loïc Mbe Soh 13 Gaëtan Bong 14 Richie Laryea 16 Sam Surridge 77' 17 Alex Mighten 78' 18 Cafú 65' 19 Xande Silva 90+1' 21 Braian Ojeda 30 Brice Samba Manager: Steve Cooper

01 Alisson 12 Joseph Gomez 05 Ibrahima Konaté 04 Virgil van Dijk 21 Konstantinos Tsimikas 08 Naby Keïta 64' 03 Fabinho 64' 15 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 64' 67 Harvey Elliott 64' 09 Roberto Firmino 20 Diogo Jota Substitutes: 06 Thiago Alcântara 64' 13 Adrián 14 Jordan Henderson 64' 17 Curtis Jones 18 Takumi Minamino 64' 23 Luis Díaz 64' 27 Divock Origi 32 Joël Matip 63 Owen Beck Manager: Jürgen Klopp

Match Stats

• Match Stats

Overall	Nottingham Forest	Liverpool
Goals scored	0	1
Total shots	6	14
Shots on target	1	7
Ball possession	35%	65%
Corner kicks	2	7
Fouls committed	6	11

See also

• 2021–22 FA Cup

External links

• Match report at BBC.co.uk