Overview
Nottingham Forest is going through a turbulent season when they still have to strain themselves in the relegation race in the Premier League, but in the Europa League arena, they found a spiritual support.
The Premier League representative started the group stage quite struggling with two draws, one defeat and only won one victory after the first four matches. However, the timely breakthrough with three wins in the last 4 matches (only losing one) helped Forest finish in 13th place, thereby winning a ticket to the play-offs.
Here, Forest successively defeated Fenerbahce with a total score of 4-2, before defeating FC Midtjylland in a penalty shootout (drawing 2-2 after two legs) to advance to the quarterfinals.
Facing Porto once again, the English representative faced great pressure in the first leg when facing up to 16 shots and only launching a meager 6 finishes. However, they still managed to get a 1-1 draw, creating a premise for the second leg at home.
Despite having the advantage of having won Porto 2-0 at City Ground in the group stage, Forest could not show stability when they lost both home matches in the knockout round this season - a worrying minus point before the rematch.
In the opposite direction, Porto entered the match with superior form and stability. Vitor Pereira's team is maintaining an unbeaten streak in the last 5 matches (2 wins, 3 draws), and has not lost in 8 consecutive matches in all competitions.
In the Europa League, Porto has only lost one match since the beginning of the season. Under the leadership of Francesco Farioli, they finished the group stage in 5th place with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, before easily overcoming Stuttgart with a total score of 4-1 in the round of 16.
Not only sublimating in Europe, Porto is also leading the Portuguese Liga with a 5-point gap from Sporting Lisbon. They have an impressive record with 24 wins, 4 draws and only 1 defeat after 29 rounds.
The stable form throughout the 2025-2026 season clearly brings great confidence to the Portuguese representative. However, the history of confrontations with English clubs does not support them. Porto has not won in the last 5 encounters with the foggy country representatives in the Europa League, including a 0-2 defeat and a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest this season.
Personnel situation
Nottingham Forest continues to face difficulties in terms of force when they do not have the services of Jair Cunha, Nicolo Savona, Willy Boly and John Victor due to injuries.
However, the City Ground team will be strengthened with the return of Elliot Anderson after suspension in the first leg. This midfielder is likely to play alongside Ibrahim Sangare in midfield in the upcoming match.
The remaining squad of the home team is predicted not to have many changes compared to the draw against Aston Villa last weekend. However, the position in the goal frame may change when Stefan Ortega is expected to start instead of Matz Sels.
On Porto's side, the away team also suffered significant personnel losses when Luuk de Jong, Martim Fernandes, Samu Aghehowa and Nehuen Perez were all absent due to injury.
After the overwhelming performance in the first leg, Francesco Farioli is likely to maintain the same squad, placing his faith in stability to aim for a ticket to the next round right in England.
Expected lineup:
Nottingham Forest: Ortega, Aina, Murillo, Milenkovic, Williams, Sangare, Anderson, Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Jesus.
D Costa, A. Costa, Silva, Bednarek, Sanusi, Fofana, Rosario, Veiga, Gomes, Moffi, Sainz.
The match between Nottingham Forest and Porto takes place at 2:00 AM on April 17 (Vietnam time).
