Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White will look back on a sliding doors moment during the 2025/26 campaign.
During a 3-1 win over Chelsea, Gibbs-White clashed heads with Robert Sanchez, and in that split moment, Forest’s chances of progressing to the Europa League Final evaporated.
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With Ibrahim Sangare, Murillo and Ola Aina already out injured, Forest could ill-afford any more injuries, least of all their talismanic captain and goalscorer.
Although Gibbs-White was desperate to play against Aston Villa, he praised Vitor Pereira for the advice and message he relayed to him before picking his team for the second leg.
Morgan Gibbs-White praises Vitor Pereira
The Forest head coach is proving himself a superb man-manager at the City Ground, and his comments to Gibbs-White ahead of the second leg prove that point.
It would have been easy for Forest to risk Gibbs-White given the importance of the match but Pereira advised the number 10 against it, given the severity of his injury.
The doctors – and even Gibbs-White’s family – agreed with Pereira and he remained on the pitch, likely there in the event of a penalty shootout.
He told Sky Sports: “To be fair, it’s going to sound mad, but I wasn’t in any pain at all when it happened. It was just the shock and the adrenaline because when it happened, and I got up and saw the blood flying everywhere, I was just in shock.
“It was just the worst time it could have happened because we had such important games coming up. We had the second leg of the Europa League semi-final, and when it happened, that was the first thing I thought about: being back for that game as fast as possible.
“To be fair, I thank the club, the doc and the manager for not rushing me back into it because I would have gone out there and played, but everyone saw how it was looking, and it wasn’t looking too good, and it would have been stupid of me to play.
“My mum and my Mrs were adamant I shouldn’t play, they said they’d go down there and drag me off themselves! Credit to them and the gaffer too, he was great about it, he said there’d be more days like this.
“It was scary, but I just wanted to try and help the team as much as I could.”
Forest will be desperate to keep hold of Gibbs-White beyond the summer transfer window.
Not only is Gibbs-White the captain of the club, but he’s also worshipped by the fan base and would be almost impossible to replace.
Forest look to be in good hands with Pereira as the head coach, and this level of player care does seem to bode well for next season.
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The hope will be that Forest can enjoy a less chaotic summer this time around and keep hold of Gibbs-White, whilst also adding some more quality around him.
It’s such a shame that Gibbs-White could help Forest at Villa Park in the second leg of the semi-final, but ultimately, it appears the right call was made for the good of the player.
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