What the Belgian press have said about Nottingham Forest ace Matz Sels after his display vs Ukraine

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Matz Sels has arguably been the unsung hero of Nottingham Forest’s superb Premier League campaign.

The goalkeeper has kept a division-best 12 clean sheets during the 2024/25 campaign and he’s been very dependable between the posts.

Sels signed for Forest for £5 million from Strasbourg – where he was the number one custodian – in January 2024 with the Reds seeking a stopper to replace Matt Turner and Odysseas Vlachodimos.

Last season, he helped the club stay in the Premier League and despite the arrival of Carlos Miguel, he has been tossed the gloves once again this season by Nuno Espirito Santo.

On Sunday night, Sels was handed the chance to impress on the international stage, with Rudi Garcia picking him ahead of Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and he didn’t disappoint.

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National media react to performance of Matz Sels in Belgium win over Ukraine

Belgium earned promotion to the next Nations League bracket with a 4-3 aggregate win over Ukraine after a stunning 3-0 win last night.

Two from Romelu Lukaku and a strike by Maxim De Cuyper earned a comprehensive win for the hosts, with Sels playing his part in the win.

The night was largely quiet but he was forced into one good save in particular from Artem Dovbyk who has been linked with Forest previously.

Belgian outlet HLN gave Sels a 7/10 and said: “Replaced Courtois. Long technically unemployed. Could watch seventy-five minutes of an evening of football from the front row. And then a crucial save on Dovbyk’s header.”

Matz Sels stats vs Ukraine

For 75 minutes, Sels had very little to do in this one with the Forest man largely redundant as Belgium dominated the contest.

This sign of a good goalkeeper, however, is having a game like that and then still producing the goods when needed later in the piece.

Naturally Ukraine were always going to press once Belgium had scored and Sels needed to be alert to deny Dovbyk.

It’s great to see Sels sharing the gloves with a Real Madrid stopper and now he should return to Forest full of confidence ahead of a big few weeks.