Overview
- Nottingham Forest face FC Porto in the first leg on Thursday at 8pm BST at the Estádio do Dragão, with live coverage in the UK on TNT Sports.
- Forest head coach Vitor Pereira said striker Chris Wood has returned to training and is available, while midfielder Elliot Anderson is suspended for the first leg.
- Porto have key absences up front with Samu Aghehowa and Luuk de Jong injured, and Rodrigo Mora, who left Saturday’s league game early, trained this week and is expected to be available.
- Porto have won all five of their Europa League home matches this season and lead Portugal’s top division, though Forest beat them 2–0 in October’s league-phase meeting.
- Forest’s European run has outpaced their league form, with seven-goal Igor Jesus level at the top of the competition’s scoring chart, and the tie returns to the City Ground on April 16 as Pereira balances this campaign with a relegation fight.