Latest Nottingham Forest news as Vitor Pereira's Reds progress to last 16 of the Europa League
23:09, 26 Feb 2026Updated 23:10, 26 Feb 2026
Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira on the City Ground touchline against Fenerbahce
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Nottingham Forest head coach Vitor Pereira on the City Ground touchline against Fenerbahce(Image: PA)
Vitor Pereira admitted a much-changed Nottingham Forest starting XI found the going tough against Fenerbahce in the second leg of their Europa League play-off.
The Reds progressed to the last 16 of the competition with a 4-2 aggregate win but they had to survive a scare at the City Ground. Nerves had set in Trentside when the visitors ate into the 3-0 advantage Pereira’s side had established in last week’s first leg in Istanbul.
The Turkish outfit led 2-0 with 48 minutes gone on the banks of the Trent. It took a Callum Hudson-Odoi strike in the 68th minute to make the evening a bit more comfortable for Forest.
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Pereira had made six changes to his starting XI as he shuffled his pack. With Forest fighting for survival in the Premier League, and with a big game to come away to Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, the Portuguese felt it was a “risk” he had to take.
"We were suffering a bit. But we are in a moment of the season where we need to think not about one game, but about two games, about the next game," Pereira said.
"It was a risk because I decided to make six changes to the team. If you have one or two changes the players can be in the middle of the others, and you don't miss the quality, but when you change six players they aren't used to playing 90 minutes.
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"This is the risk. I decided to take this risk. I decide because I need to think about the Brighton game, because it's very important for us. We need to go there with fuel and energy. It is difficult to face them away.
“My decisions were not just about this game, it was worth thinking about the next game, and was a pity for me, because my intention was to give confidence to everybody. When we conceded the first goal we lost a bit of the confidence to play. We gave them (Fenerbahce) confidence.”
Pereira added: "They scored the second but then we started to play to our level. We scored. This is important to keep in our minds, Europa League is not easy. I know Fenerbahce very well and they came here to fight for the result.”
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