Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool: Late Diogo Jota breakthrough sets up an epic FA Cup semi-final clash against Manchester City as Jurgen Klopp’s men fight their way past Steve Cooper’s gritty side

Outside the City Ground before kick-off, Nottingham Forest supporters queued up for photographs with the FA Cup.

It turns out that is as close this famous old club will get to it for the time being but Forest from the Championship certainly pushed Liverpool to their limits on yet another fabulous afternoon by the Trent.

Steve Cooper’s admirable and tenacious Nottingham Forest team had already slain Premier League opposition here this season in the form of Arsenal and Leicester City. Only the narrowest of margins ensured Liverpool did not follow those teams out of the competition. Jurgen Klopp’s team will now face Manchester City glamour semi-final at Wembley as they continue a pursuit of four trophies and in a strange way the challenges they face that day will no greater than those they faces here, just different.

Diogo Jota poked home from close range to hand Liverpool a hard-earned win on Sunday

Jota celebrated scoring the only goal of the game in front of the travelling Liverpool fans

MATCH FACTS

NOTTINGHAM FOREST: (4-4-1-1) Horvath 7; Spence 6, Worrall 7, Figueiredo 7, Colback 6 (Silva 90mins 6); Lolley 6 (Cafu 64mins 6), Yates 6, Garner 7, Johnson 7; Zinckernagel 6 (Mighten 76mins 6); Davis 7 (Surridge 76mins 6).

STEVE COOPER: 7

LIVERPOOL: (4-3-3) Alisson 6; Gomez 7, Konate 8, Van Dijk 6, Tsimikas 7; Oxlade-Chamberlain 6 (Diaz 63mins 6), Fabinho 6 (Alcantara 63mins 6), Keita 6 (Henderson 63mins 6); Jota 6, Firmino 5, Elliott 6 (Minamino 63mins 6).

GOALS: Jota 78

BOOKED: Gomez

JURGEN KLOPP: 7

REFEREE: Craig Pawson 6

The statistics will show that Liverpool had most of the ball on Sunday and most of the chances. That is true. However, the really big moments – the ones that decided this game – came in a flurry at the end and frankly this was a result that could easily have fallen the direction of the underdog from the league below.

Kopp rested players here and that was a gamble. No Mo Salah and no Sadio Mane, for example. Neither player was even on the bench. And it was a reliable understudy, Diogo Jota who poked in the winning goal from a superb Kostas Tsimikas cross with 12 minutes of normal time to play.

Either side of that, though, came moments that will live a while in the memory of those who were here.

First, two minutes before Jota’s goal, the Dane Philip Zinckernagel missed just as good a chance at the other end. Had he scored, Liverpool would have had precious little time in which to find a way back.

Then, as Forest chased parity with some gusto late on, Ryan Yates failed to beat Alisson Becker with a header just when it seemed he ought to. There was a penalty appeal, rightly turned down, amid all the drama, too, which meant that by the time Klopp and his players reached full-time, they were more than ready to get home.

Klopp’s decision to leave important players at home was vindicated by swathes of first half possession and territory, if not by a goal.

Forest, brave and ambitious, were keen to get at a Liverpool back four with only one regular member in it and when they did make progress they were dangerous. Such was Liverpool’s dominance of the ball, however, much of the home team’s best work came on the break.

Philip Zinckernagel missed a massive opportunity for Forest just before Jota scored

Ryan Yates felt he should have had a penalty after being clipped by Alisson in the final stages

MARK CLATTENBURG: Never a penalty, Yates was looking for contact

Watching live, I agreed with referee Craig Pawson that this wasn’t worthy of a penalty. Then the television replays confirmed it wasn’t.

VAR Andrew Madley saw how Nottingham Forest’s Ryan Yates was looking for the penalty. Alisson raced out to make the block and Yates could easily have stepped over his arm as he knocked the ball beyond the Liverpool goalkeeper. Instead, he made an action that ensured there was contact.

If Alisson had lifted his arm and tripped Yates, that would have been a different story. But he didn’t and, as angry as Forest were, it was right that they were not gifted a way back into this FA Cup quarter-final.

Forest had already beaten Arsenal and Leicester here in previous rounds and will have watched the tapes. What neither Premier League team did was start quickly and Liverpool seemed determined not to be like that.

The team from the Championship actually fashioned the game’s first half chance, central midfield player James Garner not able to control his shot when opportunity presented itself at the far post. After that, Liverpool managed to take more of a grip of the play.

Twice Liverpool players ran clear on goal in the opening half an hour. First Diogo Jota did so in the tenth minute only to be tackled by Forest captain Joe Worrall and then, in the 28th minute, Roberto Firmino also ambled through on goal after a slip by James Colback only to fail with an ambitious chip over Ethan Horvath when the goalkeeper gambled on staying tall. Jota, free to Firmino’s right, will have wondered why he didn’t receive a pass.

There were other moments of promise for Liverpool but they were the two clearest chances of the first half. Joe Gomez – starting at right-back – drove a long range shot straight at Horvath while from the other side Kostas Tsimikas lashed one over from distance as he sought his first goal for the club.

Much of Liverpool’s play was neat. A sharp corner to the near post gave Fabinho a chance that he stabbed wide while a smart dummy on the penalty box from Jota would have lucked a hell of a lot smarter had their actually been a Liverpool player standing behind him.

That was typical of how much of the half went. Forest were stout and unfussy across the back, demanding that Liverpool conjure something clever to cut through. At the other end, meanwhile, Forest were genuinely dangerous whenever they did flow forward.

Roberto Firmino missed a golden chance as Liverpool were frustrated in the first half

Cooper had obviously told his players to break in numbers when they could and at times they did create overlaps and situations that stretched Liverpool. Garner’s midfield partner Ryan Yates had a shot deflected wide from the edge of the area after one such counter attack on the quarter hour and when the corner was cleared Garner himself fizzed an effort of his own over the bar on the run.

Later Yates was narrowly wide with his left foot after cutting in from the right and around this time wide player Joe Lolley did Naby Keita beautifully with a side step by the near touchline.

There was life in this tie from the moment it started and it was clear just what three successive home wins in this competition had done for Forest’s belief.

None of that altered much of the way the game flowed in the second half. Liverpool were find it increasingly difficult to create real chances, though, and only Jota and then Gomez, with a mishit cross saved high at the near post, had worked Horvath before Klopp made a quartet of changes with a little more than 25 minutes of normal time to run.

Jordan Henderson was one of four substitutes to come on as Liverpool pushed for a winner

Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson, Takumi Minamino and the dangerous new signing Luis Diaz were the players who arrived to freshen up the visiting team and that spoke volumes for the way Klopp feared the contest may be going.

Forest had still not registered a shot on target with 20 minutes to go – Liverpool had six by this time – but that did not mean they were not fully in this game. They left it late against Arsenal in the third round for example when one goal proved to be enough.

Then, with just under 14 minutes left and two minutes before Liverpool’s goal, Forest’s big moment of the game arrived. Liverpool lost possession carelessly in centre field and when Ryan Yates fed Brennan Johnson down the right, his cross found Zinckernagel arriving in the area. The Forest player only had Alisson in the Liverpool goal to beat but could only push his shot across the keeper and wide.

It would have been a carbon copy of the goal that had done for Arsenal back in January but was not to be. Instead, Forest were behind almost immediately.

Jurgen Klopp was delighted at the final whistle as his side moved into the FA Cup semi-finals

Forest boss Steve Cooper can be proud of his players after they pushed Liverpool all the way

The cross that fed Jota from the left was from Tsimikas but still the Portuguese player had much to do on the stretch. Jota is a natural scorer of goals, though, and here he was up to the task. After a VAR check for offside, Liverpool had the lead and a little over 12 minutes to hang on.

Forest did scare them with five minutes left when Yates ran through and went down under a challenge from Alisson. Had he stayed down, he may have had a chance of a penalty. But he sprang back to his feet and that perhaps indicated that he himself knew he had not been touched.

Still Forest came at Liverpool late in the game. Not a soul left this stadium as the underdog sought late parity. Cooper’s team had their moments, too. A header from Yates flew straight at Alisson when he may have scored and then substitute Cafu drove a half volley over from an angle.

Here is Sportsmail’s Sam Brookes with the live blog for updates on the FA Cup quarter-final clash between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.