Nottingham Forest host Fenerbahce at the City Ground this week with Vitor Pereira’s Reds eyeing up Europa League progress
Nottingham Forest celebrate their 3-0 Europa League play-off first leg win over Fenerbahce(Image: Getty)
Getting the job done will be the order of the day for Nottingham Forest as attention shifts back to the Europa League.
The Reds have one foot in the last 16 of the competition thanks to their superb 3-0 win over Fenerbahce in Istanbul last week. But Vitor Pereira’s side will not be taking anything for granted when they host their Turkish opponents on Thursday (8pm kick-off) for the second leg of their play-off tie.
Goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and Morgan Gibbs-White gave newly-appointed head coach Pereira a dream start to his tenure in the first leg. The aim will be to build on that advantage and clinch a place in the next round.
Forest are keen to go far in the tournament as they look to make the most of their first continental adventure for three decades. Ahead of this week’s big match at the City Ground, NottinghamshireLive takes a look at everything you need to know about (hopefully) the road ahead…
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When is the draw for the last 16?
The draw for the round of 16 will take place less than 24 hours after the completion of the play-offs round. The top eight teams from the league phase of the competition are already through and will be joined by the eight winners of the knockout play-offs.
Due to the way the draw works, should Forest clinch their place in the next round they will face either Real Betis or Midtjylland in the last 16 – two teams they faced during the league phase of the tournament. If all goes to plan on Thursday night, they will not have to wait long to discover which of those two sides would await as their next opponents.
The draw for the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place on Friday (February 26) at noon UK time. It will be conducted at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, and will be streamed on UEFA.com, UEFA.tv, the official UEFA Europa League app and on UEFA’s YouTube channel.
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When will the last 16 ties take place?
The next round of the competition will again be a two-legged affair. The fixtures are scheduled for March 12 and 19. Lyon, Aston Villa, Midtjylland, Real Betis, Porto, Braga, Freiburg and Roma qualified directly for the last 16 by finishing in the top eight of the table following the league phase of the competition.
Play-off ties after the first leg: Brann 0-1 Bologna; Dinamo Zagreb 1-3 Genk; Fenerbahce 0-3 Nottingham Forest; PAOK 1-2 Celta Vigo; Celtic 1-4 Stuttgart; Lille 0-1 Red Star Belgrade; Ludogorets 2-1 Ferencvaros; Panathinaikos 2-2 Viktoria Plzen.
How much prize money will Forest get?
Just being in the league phase of the Europa League will have banked a bit of cash for Forest. All 36 teams in the league phase were guaranteed £3.7 million each.
On top of that, a league phase win was worth an additional £389,000 and each draw £130,000. The Reds won four and drew two of their eight games, adding up to £1,816,000 earned.
Forest finished 13th in the table following the completion of the league phase. Teams placed between ninth and 16th secured £260,000.
If they can continue progressing, the club’s prize pot will only grow further. Qualification for the round of 16 would bank the Reds a further £1.5m.
Making the quarter-finals will add £2.2m to a club’s prize pot, while a place in the semi-finals brings in £3.9m. The two teams to make the final will receive in the region of £6.1m each, with the eventual winners claiming an additional £5.2m for lifting the trophy.