Vitor Pereira secured the perfect start to his reign at Nottingham Forest as his side cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win against Fenerbahce in the first leg of the Europa League knockout play-off.
Despite only being appointed as Sean Dyche’s successor four days prior, Pereira snapped Forest’s three-game winless run to put them firmly in control of the tie and on the verge of sealing a round of 16 clash against Real Betis or Midtjylland.
Pereira made two minor changes to Dyche’s final line-up and used the same formation but Forest looked vastly improved from kick-off and took a deserved lead when Murillo’s long-range strike kick-started the new era in emphatic style.
Murillo celebrates scoring against Fenerbahce for Nottingham Forest
The centre back, who was one of two changes made by Pereira in his first line-up, picked the ball up near the halfway line before driving forward unchallenged and rifling his shot into the bottom left corner.
Forest’s dominance continued from there and they would add a second just before the break when Morgan Gibbs-White’s flick on from a corner was nodded in by Igor Jesus at the back-post.
The same pairing would link up once again after the restart but it was the Brazil forward who turned provider on this occasion, squaring the ball to Gibbs-White to sweep home a third goal for Forest to seal an impressive first win for Pereira against the team he managed on two separate occasions earlier in his career.
A win and a clean sheet in Europe while being unfazed by a hostile reception in Istanbul is an impressive start to the new regime at the City Ground but Pereira’s side now face a quick turnaround before their next test against Liverpool, live on Sky Sports, this Sunday.
The second leg of the knock-out tie then follows at the City Ground on February 26.
What’s coming up for Forest?
Sunday 22nd February 1:00pm
Kick off 2:00pm
