Brice Samba was the Nottingham Forest hero on Tuesday night and he’s received a message of good luck from former club Marseille.
The goalkeeper saves penalties from Oliver Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White as the Reds beat Sheffield United 3-2 on penalties.
It wasn’t exactly a vintage performance from Forest who were beaten 2-1 by the Blades at the City Ground.
At times it seemed as though the Reds were hanging on. The experienced players came to the fore though and Samba proved his critics wrong once and for all.
His saves were ridiculously good and goals from Brennan Johnson, Cafu and Steve Cook were enough to send the Reds through.
Samba signed for the Reds in 2019 from Caen. He made 49 appearances for the French outfit after signing for them from Marseille.
During his time at the Stade Velodrome, he found first-team football hard to come by. Samba managed just four appearances and also spent some time on loan with Nancy.
The 28-year-old is a product of the youth academy at Le Havre. He failed to make an appearance for the senior ranks there and was eventually moved on.
He’s now made 131 appearances for Forest and is firmly established as the club’s number one goalkeeper.
Forest man Samba gets message from Marseille and his confidence will be sky high
Marseille are perhaps a club that Samba still holds dearly to his heart. In terms of playing regularly in the top-flight in the modern era, they’re certainly the biggest club he’s played for.
The message of good luck is a nice touch. What it should do is ensure that Samba’s confidence stays high ahead of the biggest game of his life in just over a week.
Samba has enjoyed a strange season. He was erratic under Chris Hughton but settled down under Cooper. He was then sent off in February and lost his place in the team for seven matches with Ethan Horvath deputising.
Now, he’s enjoyed his finest night in a Forest shirt and he will hope to be receiving more praise from Marseille if the Reds can reach the Premier League.