Nottingham Forest v Porto: Line-ups, stats and preview

Nottingham Forest will aim to reach their first European semi-final since 1984 when they host Porto at the City Ground with their Europa League last-eight tie perfectly poised.

Forest earned a 1-1 draw from the first leg at Estadio do Dragao, William Gomes’ opener for Porto cancelled out by an astonishing own goal from Martim Fernandes.

Vitor Pereira’s side saw a goal to complete the turnaround from Igor Jesus controversially ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper and, despite spending much of last week’s clash on the back foot, Forest will have confidence they can overcome a side they beat earlier this season in the league phase.

Forest will have taken heart from their display in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, which could prove to be a key point in their battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League. Villa, having beaten Bologna 3-1 in their first leg, are the likely opponents for Forest should they indeed replicate their 1983-84 team, who reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup before losing to Anderlecht.

Porto are in a very different position in the Primeira Liga in Portugal, with a 3-1 win over Estoril at the weekend seeing them maintain a five-point lead over closest challengers Sporting CP in the title race.

They have their eyes on a potential treble, having reached the semi-finals of the Taca de Portugal, in which they trail Sporting 1-0 after the first leg.

Porto have not won a European trophy since the 2010-11 Europa League, and winger Pepe knows unity will be key as they bid to achieve their goals.

“Winning is always very important, even more so at this stage of the season when every game is a final,” Pepe told the club’s website.

“There are still five finals left in the league and we’ll aim to give our best, day after day, to extend this winning run. We have to keep working, always with the unity we’ve shown, which is very important.

“We’re fighting for three competitions and we’ll give it our all to fight hard for every one of them. On Thursday, we’ve got another big game, so we’ll rest and prepare as best we can to go out and secure a great result and qualify for the next round.”

Team news for Nottingham Forest v FC Porto

Jair Cunha, Nicolo Savona, Willy Boly and John Victor remain out due to injuries for Forest.

However, Elliott Anderson will return to the midfield after serving a suspension.

Porto are set to be without Fernandes owing to an ankle injury he suffered in the first leg. He is set to join Luuk de Jong, Samu Aghehow and Nehuen Perez on the sidelines.

Predicted line-ups for Nottingham Forest v FC Porto

Nottingham Forest: Ortega; Aina, Murillo, Milenkovic, Williams; Sangare, Anderson; Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus

Porto: D Costa; A Costa, Silva, Bednarek, Sanusi; Fofana, Rosario, Veiga; Gomes, Moffi, Sainz

Where to watch Nottingham Forest v FC Porto: TV and online streams

Nottingham Forest v Porto kicks off at 8:00pm UK time. It will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 and can be streamed via HBO Max. Sky subscribers with a TNT package can stream the game via Sky Go.

Stats for Nottingham Forest v FC Porto

• In their major European history, Porto have played 24 away matches in England and have never won (D3 L21). Their only ‘away’ win against an English side was against Chelsea in April 2021 in a Champions League quarter-final second leg, which was played in Seville due to Covid-19 restrictions.
• Forest have lost three home Europa League matches this season no English side has ever lost four home games in a major European season.
• Porto have failed to win any of their five Europa League games against English opposition (D2 L3), the most times they have faced sides from a particular nation in the competition without success.
• This will be Forest’s first major European quarter final on home soil since a 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup in 1995-96. They’ve lost each of their last three home knockout matches in major European competition including that match, as many defeats as across their prior 21 such matches combined (W14 D4).
• Porto have only won the second leg of four of their last 22 two-legged major European knockout ties (D6 L12), though one was against Stuttgart in the last 16 of this season’s Europa League.
• Forest’s Igor Jesus has netted seven goals in this season’s Europa League; only one Brazilian has ever scored more in a single season in the competition, Giuliano for Zenit St Petersburg in 2016-17 (8).
• After scoring in the first leg, William Gomes’ became Porto’s top Europa League scorer this season with four goals. The last time a Brazilian netted five times or more for the club in a major European campaign was Galeno in the Champions League in 2023-24 (5), while the last to score more in the Europa League/UEFA Cup was Derlei in 2002-03 (12).

Prediction for Nottingham Forest v FC Porto

Forest’s equaliser in Porto was extremely fortunate, but they were also unlucky not to come away with more than a draw. With the home crowd on their side in this once, they can pull off a famous victory.

Prediction: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Porto

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