MORGAN GIBBS-WHITE missed a penalty, then 55 SECONDS later Nottingham Forest captain Ryan Yates scored a dreadful own goal.
It could have been 1-0 to Forest when the referee instantly pointed to the spot after Gabri Martinez tangled with James McAtee in the box, 50 minutes in.
Gibbs-White stepped up but sent a limp effort, rolling towards the bottom corner, which Lukas Hornicek easily scooped up.
In the blink of an eye, Portuguese side Braga had charged up the other end and went ahead.
It began with Nikola Milenkovic losing a soft challenge in the penalty area and a low ball bobbled across the six-yard box, bouncing off the shins of Yates and into the net.
The result means Forest’s hopes of automatic qualification into the last 16 is out of their hands, with their dreams of progressing into the next round taking a major dent.
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Forest fans were not impressed, given they only had one shot on target in the first-half.
It was thanks to Gibbs-White who fired a free-kick up and over the wall to sting the hands of Hornicek ten minutes in.
Forest were crying out for the killer instincts of a striker when Nicolo Savona whipped a cross into the face of goal, but Dan Ndoye could not keep up to make the easy tap-in.
There was a real scare for Forest when Savona switched off at the back post and Gabri Martinez dashed in front of the defender, but glanced his header wide of the post.
He should have scored and Forest fans were not happy at half -time, making it known with boos at Braga’s home stadium.
After the break, Savona made it way too easy for Martinez on that left-flank again as the Spanish forward shimmied beyond him and teed up Ricardo Horta, but he blazed his shot over the bar.
Martinez went from hero to zero, though, as the referee instantly pointed to the penalty spot when he dragged McAtee in the box after a lovely in-swinging cross from Gibbs-White to create the danger.
It may well have been a tangle of legs, but there was still contact and VAR stood by the on-field decision after a lengthy check.
Gibbs-White stepped up and missed before 55-seconds of chaos ensued.
Braga came so close to a second when Pau Victor cracked a shot against the post as Forest shirked their defensive duties once again.
Queue the Forest changes as Neco Williams, Hudson-Odoi and Elliot Anderson came on for Ola Aina, McAtee and Douglas Luiz.
The Forest supporters let Luiz, who has been linked with a move to Chelsea, know what they thought of his performance.
Forest were packing more of a punch at the end and Williams and Callum Hudson-Odoi linked up on the left.
But the promising attack ended with Anderson blazing a shot well over.
There was a big shout for a Forest penalty when Moutinho dived in with Ndoye on his outside in the box.
But the referee booked the Forest winger for diving and VAR found that Moutinho pulled his legs back in time.
The disastrous night was summed up when Anderson was shown a straight red card, for what looked like a non-incident.
He was not involved in the play, so we can only assume that he gave the referee an earful.
Defeat to the Portuguese outfit was made worse for Forest by the fact that Braga didn’t have a SINGLE SHOT on target.
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