Nottingham Forest are ready to take on Aston Villa in tonight’s Europa League semi-final at the first leg, with Vitor Pereira dreaming of becoming the modern-day Brian Clough.
Is this the team to give us a first leg advantage in the Europa League against Aston Villa?
Although Clough’s back-to-back European Cup triumphs are out of Pereira’s reach, this latest European run has got Forest dreaming of glory all over again.
Forest have overcome tough knockout games with Fenerbahce, Midtjylland and Porto to set up this crunch game with Villa, and Pereira has paid tribute to the late great Clough.
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What Vitor Pereira has said about Brian Clough
Pereira has completed his pre-match responsibilities with typical professionalism, and it would appear as though his team are ready for tonight.
The Portuguese head coach is going to be looking to go unbeaten for a ninth consecutive match in all competitions when Villa rock up at the City Ground.
Pereira found time in his press conference to laud Clough, and clearly, he’s familiar with the success he enjoyed in European competition on Trentside.
He said: “If we want to put our names in the history of this club, we need to get to the final and win it.
“Of course, he is an inspiration for us. Tomorrow is a big chance for our supporters and for us to reach a final. We will do everything we can to move forward.
“He was a strong character, not just a top player and manager.
“This week I went into the city and saw a big statue of him. I’m not thinking about a statue, but we can imagine what he did for this city, because it stays in the city and the hearts of the people until now.”
The Forest of 2026 now have a chance to create their own piece of history, and whatever happens tonight, nothing will be decided.
However, it’s crucial that Forest take a bit of something into next week’s second leg at Villa Park, given a less-than-impressive record there since winning promotion back to the Premier League.
Forest have picked up of late under Pereira and tonight provides the team with a great chance to prove exactly how far they’ve come in such a short space of time.
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