Real Betis v Nottingham Forest: Line-ups, stats and preview

Preview for Real Betis v Nottingham Forest

Ange Postecoglou is relishing the opportunity to defend the Europa League crown he won with Tottenham last season when Nottingham Forest open their campaign at Real Betis tomorrow night.

Spurs beat Manchester United in the final in May but Postecoglou was sacked 16 days later only to rock up at Forest earlier this month tasked with leading the Tricky Trees to silverware.

He has not got off to the best of starts, taking one point from two league games and seeing Forest go out of the EFL Cup at the second round stage to Championship side Swansea City.

But the Australian is excited at being back in Europe, as are Forest having not participated in continental competition since reaching the quarterfinals of the 1995/96 UEFA Cup.

He told the Nottingham Post: “I thoroughly enjoyed last year. I had two years at Celtic where we were in Europe as well.

“It’s a great experience. Playing away from home you experience different environments, different cultures and different styles of football. It’s very challenging. It can test you in many ways – physically and mentally.

“You have got to use every minute of the day to make sure you are recovering mentally and physically for the next challenge. Just being part of it is genuinely exciting, even for me as a manager.

“You go from the Premier League, where most of the things are known, to a little bit of the unknown. You can be playing an opponent you haven’t played before or someone who plays totally different to anyone else. It’s really exciting. I’m looking forward to it.”

After a seventh-placed finish under Nuno Espirito Santo last season, Forest have struggled this term, leading to the Portuguese’s dismissal. They are in 15th place in the Premier League with five points from five games.

But Postecoglou is willing to use the Europa League as a distraction from their domestic woes.

He added: “There were plenty of times last year [with Spurs] where we were struggling in the league, because we had some injury issues, but we treated the European nights as almost something separate.

“Whatever issues you have in the league, you don’t take that into Europe, you treat it as a separate entity. We were going well in Europe and we consistently reflected on that – focus on this now, irrespective of what else is happening.

“Each game is a unique challenge and if you can get your mind around the fact that one doesn’t necessarily relate to the other, in terms of league and Europe, then you can still progress your football and progress in the tournament, irrespective of what else is happening. That takes real focus and discipline.

“It’s about the routine of understanding that recovery is really important, both mentally and physically. The away games can take their toll.”

Real Betis are experienced European campaigners and reached the final of the Conference League last season, losing to Chelsea.

They sit sixth in La Liga and enjoyed a 3-1 win over Real Sociedad on Friday night.

Team News for Real Betis v Nottingham Forest

Real Betis are definitely without Hector Bellerin, Diego Llorente, Nelson Deossa and Marc Bartra. Playmaker Isco remains sidelined as well.

Murillo is expected to return to the heart of the Forest defence and Chris Wood may be left out in favour of Igor Jesus. Ola Aina is sidelined for several more weeks but Oleksandr Zinchenko has been added to the squad in place of the right-back.