Fenerbahce fight back but Forest hold on
Nottingham Forest booked their place in the Europa League last-16 with a 4-2 aggregate victory over Fenerbahce despite a 2-1 defeat in the second leg at the City Ground on Thursday.
Vitor Pereira rotated heavily with a 3-0 lead from the first leg in Istanbul, but the performance gap was clear. Forest created their own problems and made a comfortable tie much harder.
Fenerbahce punished them in the 22nd minute when a ruthless break ended with Kerem Akturkoglu sweeping home to give the visitors hope.
Akturkoglu and Sidiki Cherif wasted glorious chances to level the tie in the first half. Forest had no shots on target, high turnovers and lost duels before Pereira made four half-time changes – bringing on Callum Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus, Ola Aina and Ibrahim Sangare.
He called the decision “difficult” post-match: “Changing half the team is not easy to keep the level. It’s my responsibility because we have an important game in three days. I tried to manage the next match and recover players. It’s a risk.”
Seconds into the second half another clumsy moment gave Fenerbahce a penalty. Jair Cunha caught Akturkoglu, VAR confirmed, and Akturkoglu slotted home his second to make it 2-0 on the night.
Forest settled after the substitutes’ impact. Hudson-Odoi combined with Aina – whose swinging cross found him on the left – before he sped past his marker and hammered home his first European goal of the season into the far corner.
Relief swept the City Ground as the goal knocked the fight out of injury-hit Fenerbahce. Forest advance to Friday’s last-16 draw, where they face either Real Betis or FC Midtjylland.
Pereira on rotation risks and next steps
Pereira admitted the six changes were a gamble: “If you change one or two players they can blend in. But six players aren’t used to 90 minutes. We conceded and lost confidence. It was dangerous. After the second goal we started playing and creating.”
On learnings: “Even for me. If you change five players you don’t know what will happen. Under stress it’s difficult to be themselves if they don’t play every match. In the end we’re in the competition so let’s move forward and think about Brighton.”
Callum Hudson-Odoi to TNT Sports: “We made it difficult for ourselves. When you’re in the lead you can feel comfortable, but we showed a great reaction after their second goal. We wanted to score and we did. It’s important we’re through even without the result tonight.”
On second-half adjustments: “We needed to up levels, focus on high press and winning the ball high. It was unfortunate to concede straight away but we reacted well. Calm the game, keep the ball, create chances. When we scored it gave breathing space.”
On next opponents: “No matter who comes, we’ll be prepared and ready.”
