The sight of a slumped Morgan Gibbs-White with his head in his hands on the substitutes’ bench at Villa Park epitomised an agonising night for Nottingham Forest.
The attacking midfielder looked like a broken man. Not just because of the two black eyes and the string of stitches laced across his forehead, but because of what was unfolding in front of him.
The injuries he sustained in a clash of heads in the 3-1 win at Chelsea on Monday meant he was included among the substitutes without any serious intention of calling upon his services.
As the seconds ticked down, the man who has so often been a driving force for this Forest side — a player who had scored seven goals since the start of March — had seen his role reduced to nothing more than that of a helpless bystander.
Aston Villa powered their way to a 4-0 win in this Europa League semi-final second leg (4-1 on aggregate) that brought a merciless end to Forest’s European dreams. They were by far the better side: determined, relentless in their pressing and ruthless in their finishing.
The most painful thing for those of a Forest persuasion — both in the stands and in the dugout — will be just how little their side resembled the team they had become over the past few months.
And, as difficult as that will have been as they made their way home, that is the thought they must cling to. Because of the four managers Forest have had during a chaotic campaign, nobody has cajoled more from these players than Vitor Pereira.
Nottingham Forest will now resume the fight to stay in the Premier League (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
The Portuguese has taken a group ground down by the departure of the popular Nuno Espírito Santo, followed by the brief tenures of Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche, and injected them with renewed levels of belief and purpose. It was enough to inspire a 10-match unbeaten run, one that guided Forest to the cusp of Premier League safety and into the semi-final of their first European competition in three decades.
This was a performance entirely out of character, far removed from what we have become accustomed to since Pereira’s appointment in February.
Forest can point to the fact that key figures like Gibbs-White, Ibrahim Sangare and Murillo were all only included on the bench as an emergency measure. When he did come off the bench for a brief cameo in the 88th minute. Murillo felt some fresh discomfort in the hamstring injury that had sidelined him in recent weeks,
Beyond that, Ola Aina, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Nicolo Savona and Dan Ndoye were also out. Pereira claimed afterwards that Forest effectively had three senior players on the bench who were capable of playing a meaningful part, in Lorenzo Lucca, Dilane Bakwa and Ryan Yates.
When Newcastle United visit on Sunday, Forest will be grateful to be able to call upon the services of Taiwo Awoniyi and Luca Netz, two men who were excluded from the Europa League squad under Dyche. They will also be thankful for the six-point advantage — and the vastly superior goal difference — they hold over 18th-placed West Ham.
Against Chelsea, Forest prioritised Europe over the Premier League for the first time this season, with Pereira making eight changes to his team — and still managed to strike what they hope will be a decisive blow in the relegation fight. The manner of this defeat only enhanced the significance of that victory.
This was not the way their European adventure was meant to end but it has been an adventure nevertheless. Amid a torrid campaign, it has been the one competition that has provided a sliver of hope and optimism, even when things were at their worst.
The beautiful city of Seville became a sea of red for a few sun-drenched days in September, Igor Jesus scoring two goals to ensure Forest marked their first European game since a UEFA Cup quarter-final defeat against Bayern Munich in March 1996 with a point and a bucket load of memories. It was one of the few high points of Postecoglou’s winless tenure — even if a 3-2 defeat at home to Midtjylland was subsequently a major factor in his departure.
A 2-0 win over Porto sparked a degree of optimism that his replacement, Dyche, might be the right man for the job, as he kicked off with a debut win. That was followed by a thumping 3-0 success over Malmo in late November.
Forest fans have travelled by road, sea and a host of creative connecting flights in different corners of Europe to support their team in Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Turkey and Denmark. They have hired camper vans to pound the toll roads of the continent and slept on airport floors.
Going out of the competition in the West Midlands somehow felt wrong in a geographical sense. But at least the journey home was brief.
Under Pereira in particular, amid a relegation fight, the competition still gave them a reason to dream. It went from being an unwelcome distraction to being, well, an entirely welcome one.
The Portuguese marked the start of his own tenure with a 3-0 win at the home of his former club, Fenerbahce, before getting over the line with a 2-1 home defeat. They edged past Midtjylland over two legs. They claimed the considerable scalp of Porto — who have subsequently gone on to secure the Portuguese title — as Pereira defeated another of his former clubs in the quarter-final.
In both Turkey and Portugal, Pereira was warmly welcomed back by both media and fans alike — Porto presented him with a commemorative shirt on the pitch.
And, following the 1-0 home win over Villa, people began to hope that a return trip to Istanbul, this time for the final, might just be a possibility. Champions League qualification via this competition felt almost within their grasp. The prospect of a side that had fought against relegation for the entire season somehow securing legendary status was suddenly not unrealistic.
The sharp pain of this defeat will make it difficult to see the bigger picture or to remember that feeling. For the first time, Pereira did not have the answers.
But Forest’s Europa League progress might be a sign that — amid a torrid campaign — in Pereira, they nevertheless have a man who is capable of inspiring the hope that better things might still be on the horizon.
