Nottingham Forest boss Vitor Pereira makes perfect start in Europa play-offs

LONDON – Vitor Pereira made a dream start as Nottingham Forest boss with a 3-0 win against Fenerbahce in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs on Feb 19.

Pereira became Forest’s fourth boss this season after signing an 18-month deal to replace the sacked Sean Dyche on Feb 15.

He made an instant impact as the English Premier League strugglers powered to an impressive victory in Istanbul, thanks to goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and Morgan Gibbs-White.

“I realised before I came that the players have a lot of quality. They need results but they need to enjoy the game,” Pereira said.

“I asked them to express themselves on the pitch. They did it. It was a very good result.”

Perched perilously just three points above the Premier League relegation zone, Forest’s main aim is to avoid dropping into the Championship.

But extending their first European campaign since 1995-96 would be a notable feat for a club starved of continental success since Brian Clough’s reign as manager.

Pereira had been out of work after being sacked by Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 2025 following a dismal start to this season.

Managing Forest is hardly a guarantee of job security, however.

Dyche, axed last week, was in charge for just 114 days.

His departure followed Ange Postecoglou’s 39-day tenure, which ended in October and came after Nuno Espirito Santo lasted just 21 months at the helm.

Murillo’s return to the starting line-up proved an inspired move by Pereira as the Brazilian centre back opened the scoring in the 21st minute, holding off two challenges before lashing a superb low strike past Ederson.

Forest made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute, when Gibbs-White flicked on Elliot Anderson’s corner and Jesus pounced to head in from virtually on the goal line, before Gibbs-White notched Forest’s third goal in the 50th minute.

Jesus beat the offside trap and unselfishly squared to Gibbs-White, who slotted home despite losing his footing while shooting.

Forest next host Liverpool in the Premier League on Feb 22, four days before Fenerbahce’s visit for the second leg.

Separately, Postecoglou said on the Overlap podcast that he has only himself to blame for the short-lived stint as Forest boss, with the Australian accepting he made “a bad decision”.

“It was too soon after Tottenham (Hotspur),” said the 60-year-old who was sacked by the London club in June 2025. “I was taking over at a time where they were kind of used to doing things a certain way and I’m obviously going to do things differently. I’ve got to cop that, that was my mistake. It’s no one else’s fault.”

Postecoglou remains without a club but has ruled out returning to Celtic, where he enjoyed a successful two-year stint from 2021 to 2023, with 73-year-old Martin O’Neill currently in caretaker charge of the Scottish champions until the end of the season.

O’Neill, who led Celtic to seven trophies from 2000 to 2005, was beaten for just the second time in 19 games over two stints as interim boss this season in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs on Feb 19.

His 1,000th professional match as manager was ruined after Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel made a pair of costly mistakes in a 4-1 home defeat by German side VfB Stuttgart.

Stuttgart went in front after 15 minutes with a goal gift-wrapped by Schmeichel.

His weak clearance was worked into Bilal El Khannouss, whose tame shot should have been saved but somehow eluded the hapless Dane.

Celtic were presented with an equally farcical equaliser in the 21st minute.

Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nubel’s woeful pass put Atakan Karazor in trouble and his panicked ball hit Benjamin Nygren, who tapped into the empty net.

El Khannouss, on loan from Leicester City, restored Stuttgart’s advantage with a close-range header in the 28th minute.

Schmeichel’s miserable evening got even worse in the 57th minute when Jamie Leweling’s strike from the edge of the area squirmed past his attempted save.

Tiago Tomas netted in stoppage time to add to O’Neill’s misery.

Celtic have not advanced from a knockout-stage European tie since 2004 and Stuttgart’s first-leg stroll leaves the Scottish champions facing a mammoth task to end that dismal run.

In the other early first-leg ties on Feb 19, Franklin Tebo Uchenna scored just before half-time to fire Red Star Belgrade to a 1-0 win at Lille.

Santiago Castro’s ninth-minute goal gave Italian side Bologna a 1-0 win at Norway’s Brann.

Zakaria El Ouahdi’s brace inspired Genk’s 3-1 win at Dinamo Zagreb, while Ludogorets Razgrad beat Ferencvaros 2-1.

Viktoria Plzen drew 2-2 with Panathinaikos, and Celta Vigo won 2-1 at PAOK.

In the Europa Conference League play-offs, Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner expressed disappointment as his side could not make their dominance count in a 1-1 first-leg draw away at Bosnian club Zrinjski Mostar on Feb 19.

Ismaila Sarr gave the Eagles the lead two minutes before the break, but Zrinjski’s Karlo Abramovic equalised for the hosts in the 55th minute. The second leg will be played on Feb 26. AFP, REUTERS