Nottingham Forest face Porto in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final at the City Ground
20:35, 16 Apr 2026Updated 20:37, 16 Apr 2026
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Nottingham Forest players celebrate their side's first goal of the game against Porto, scored by Morgan Gibbs-White, by holding up the shirt of team-mate Elliot Anderson following the passing of his mum
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Nottingham Forest players celebrate their side's first goal of the game against Porto, scored by Morgan Gibbs-White, by holding up the shirt of team-mate Elliot Anderson following the passing of his mum
Nottingham Forest showed their support for teammate Elliot Anderson during their Europa League quarter-final tie with Porto.
The England international was unavailable for the second leg of the Reds’ last-eight clash at the the City Ground. His absence came following the death of his mother, Helen.
The home crowd showed their support by chanting ‘Geordie Maradona’ in the early minutes of the game, in reference to the midfielder. And when Morgan Gibbs-White opened the scoring in the 12th minute, he held up a shirt bearing Anderson’s name and the number 8, along with the message: “Family first, we are all with you.”
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Anderson had been absent from training on Wednesday ahead of the game. Head coach Vitor Pereira said in his pre-match press conference he was unsure whether the 23-year-old would be available for the match.
Ahead of kick-off, Forest said in a statement: “Elliot Anderson is unavailable for tonight’s fixture following the passing of his beloved mother, Helen. Everyone at Nottingham Forest Football Club extends its deepest condolences to Elliot and his family following this extremely sad news. Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies are with the Anderson family at this difficult time.”
Gibbs-White’s opener on the night made it 2-1 to Forest on aggregate. It had finished 1-1 in Portugal last week, setting things up nicely for a tasty quarter-final second leg.
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