This Monday - watch Forest Women v Birmingham City at The City Ground!
This Monday - watch Forest Women v Birmingham City at The City Ground!
Reds travel to Graz
Match to be Forest’s fourth in the Europa League
Forest Preview has all the pre-match information
Nottingham Forest head to central Europe on Thursday evening for the Reds’ second away Europa League fixture against Sturm Graz in Austria.
Forest go into the match sitting 17th in the table – just two points outside the top eight – following our 2-0 win against FC Porto in the previous round of the competition – Sean Dyche’s first game as the Reds’ Head Coach.
On Saturday, the Reds picked up a Premier League point against Manchester United at the City Ground, extending Dyche’s record on Trentside to two unbeaten in all competitions.
The Austrian side, meanwhile, are 27th in the league phase table following a win and two defeats from their opening three games of the competition.
At the weekend, Graz fell to a 2-1 defeat to Rapid Wien, keeping Die Schwoazn fourth in the Austrian Bundesliga.
Opposition in focus
STURM GRAZ STADIUM.jpg
Sturm Graz have the unique record of having either won or lost all of their fixtures this season across all competitions.
Die Schwoazn are fourth in the Austrian Bundesliga with seven wins and four losses coming from their 11 league fixtures to date.
In the Europa League, Graz have suffered defeats to FC Midtjylland and Scottish side Celtic so far – both away from home – while their solitary win came over Rangers at the Merkur Arena during matchweek two.
On the European stage, Graz were previously joint winners of the Intertoto Cup in 2008 and have competed in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup, but never before in the Europa League since its rebranding in 2009.
Sean Dyche's pre-match interview
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Sean Dyche told his pre-match press conference that Douglas Luiz and Callum Hudson-Odoi will both miss the match against Sturm Graz. Chris Wood is making progress but will not return for this match.
Previous meeting
Forest v Sturm Graz - 1984 Programme Cover
Forest v Sturm Graz - 1984 Programme Cover
Forest have previously faced the Austrian side in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup campaign in the quarter-finals of the competition.
After Paul Hart’s solitary strike at the City Ground proved the difference between the two sides in the first leg, the Reds travelled to Austria with a place in the semi-final of the competition within their sights.
However, Božo Bakota levelled the scores on aggregate from the penalty spot in the first half following an alleged foul by Viv Anderson, sending the tie to extra time after the second 90 minutes had been played.
Seven minutes before the dreaded penalty shoot-out, the Reds were awarded a spot-kick of their own when Steve Hodge was brought down in the Graz box.
Colin Walsh stepped up to send the ‘keeper the wrong way and plant his left-footed penalty into the bottom right corner of the net.
Forest’s place in the semi-final of the competition was secured in the first competitive meeting between Sturm Graz and Forest.
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The officials
Mykola Balakin - Europa League Officials
Mykola Balakin - Europa League Officials
Ukrainian official Mykola Balakin will oversee Forest’s Europa League clash with Sturm Graz on Thursday evening.
The official has yet to take charge of a Europa League match so far this season, with his previous European fixtures coming in UEFA Champions League and Conference League qualifiers.
In the continental fixtures Balakin has taken charge of, he has brandished 18 yellow cards while showing a second yellow once. He has yet to point to the penalty spot this term.
Assisting Balakin in Austria will be Oleksandr Berkut and Volodymyr Vysotskyi, while Vitaliy Romanov will be the fourth official. Robert Schröder is on VAR duty and Dmytro Panchyshyn is the assistant VAR.
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