Thank you for joining me. Here is Ben Fisher’s report from all the way in Istanbul to your eyes.
Morgan Gibbs-White: “I felt like we had a real identity out there today, we defended incredible and we created a lot of chances, and we should have had more.
“His message to us is that we have a real idenity. We have all bought into what he wants straightaway. We need to keep learning and take it game by game.
“We needed a cleansheet and a win. It was the perfect moment. To come here is difficult, with the passion of their fans – our fans were incredible tonight.”
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Do enjoy Lescott questioning whether Murillo should have shot there.
And plenty of cold weather sports.
Do not fear, there is more football on the website.
Tedesco shouts at the fourth official at the full-time whistle. I think he has bigger problems that the officiating tonight.
Full time: Fenerbahce 0-3 Nottingham Forest
The tie looks very much done and dusted, while Vitor Pereira has made it everything look far too easy.
90+1 mins: Fred is booked for too much messing around.
90 mins: Fener have a free-kick just outside the box … Asensio lines it up and sends it over.
Three minutes added on.
88 mins: Ortega closing in ons his second cleansheet for the club. Not a bad start.
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86 mins: The Fener fans have emptied out. A desperate night for them.
84 mins: The ball reaches Dominguez in the box, he has time to set himself but cannot find the target. He should do better.
Richard Hirst says: “I wouldn’t mind being an also ran for the amount of money they are no doubt being paid: see also Ronaldo C.”
82 mins: McAtee is coming on … Hudson-Odoi off. Maybe Pereira is the man to finally get the former City man to settle.
80 mins: Dominguez the free-kick straight to Ederson.
I do wonder how enjoyable this all is for the likes of Ederson and Kante, who have achieved many highs in their careers and are now playing for European also rans.
78 mins: Soyuncu produces an utterly appalling foul on Williams. It is cynical and poorly timed. He gets a booking to punish him for his uselessness.
76 mins: Fred is coming on to add to the collection of former Premier League lags. But is Kante who is off.
74 mins: Ndoye is given another chance to show his pace but opts to ping a crossfield pass. Forest are happy to see this game out.
72 mins: Fener will be desperate to do something that will stop their fans from berating them at the full-time whistle.
70 mins: Asensio produces a beautifully flicked volley from the penalty spot but it is straight at Ortega. A first moment of quality from Fener.
Ndoye’s corner reaches Hudson-Odoi inside the box and his rocket of a shot is tipped over by Ederson.
68 mins: Dominguez and Yates on for Anderson and Gibbs-White. Pereira being very sensible with his subs.
66 mins: Fener really need to find a goal to make anyone even consider that a miracle could happen on the banks of the Trent.
64 mins: Ndoye leads a break down the right but he cannot find a good pass into the centre. Lucca then sends a pass straight out for a goal kick. Not a great start for the subs.
62 mins: Ndoye has not done much recently, but has a fresh start with Pereira. He is clearly very talented but needs to find consistency.
60 mins: Lucca and Ndoye are primed to come on. I can read Pereira’s man. Where’s my medal? Jesus and Hutchinson off.
58 mins: This scoreline will allow Pereira to make a few changes and test out his subs. They have a rather important game against Liverpool on Sunday, and a long journey home.
I think he will want to see what Lucca is all about because he it dreadful against Wolves.
56 mins: Sangare pings a shot from 35 yards but it is half-blocked. Forest very much rampant.
54 mins: I think that means this game – and tie – is very much done. What will you do instead of watching the second leg next Thursday?
Hudson-Odoi tries to find the top corner from the edge of the box but curls it over.
52 mins: IT IS FINE!
GOAL! Fenerbahce 0-3 Nottingham Forest (Gibbs-White, 50)
Jesus taps to Gibbs-White who bundles the ball through Ederson. There is a check for offside but he seems to be fine …
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50 mins: Hutchison sends through a decent ball for Jesus to chase but Ederson is out quickly.
Gibbs-White has a chance on the edge of the box but Ederson blocks and recovers to reclaim the ball.
49 mins: It’s be a far more positive start from Fener. A cross is swung into the box, which Aina bravely gets his head to.
47 mins: Almost the perfect start for Fener thanks to a simple ball over the top for Cherif to reach, before unleashing a vicious shot which Ortega does well to tip over. The forward is offside, mind, so a VAR check would rule out any goal.
Second half
Here we go again! Can Forest see this through?
Fener send on Nene for Aktürkoğlu, and Mercan for Muldur.
Half-time reading:
Half time: Fenerbahce 0-2 Nottingham Forest
The Premier League side have been utterly dominant in Pereira’s first match in charge. He is looking like a footballing genius after 45 minutes in the job. It should be said, Fenerbahce have looked very ordinary.
45 mins: Two added on.
GOAL! Fenerbahce 0-2 Nottingham Forest (Jesus, 43)
Anderson swings in a corner to the front post, which Gibbs-White flicks to the back where Jesus is waiting to nod in.
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43 mins: Williams has a pop from just outside the area but it is deflected wide. A seventh corner to Forest …
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42 mins: The referee can barely hear what is being said into his ear with the noise inside the stadium. He indicates it is not a penalty and then books Tedesco. I am not sure why he needs to stop play for all that but gets the right decision in the end. Naturally, the home support are not happy.
40 mins: It is a corner on the right for Forest … Hutchinson takes it and Ederson comes to punch straight to Hudson-Odoi on the edge, and his shot is blocked.
Fener are demanding a penalty down the other end for handball. The referee stops play but his arm is at his side when the ball hits. It can’t be a penalty …
38 mins: Kante trips Hudson-Odoi around 30 yards from goal. Will someone take on the strike? No, it is taken short and ends up with Williams shooting, although his shot is deflected, concluding with Jesus jabbing wide.
36 mins: Milenkovic sends a bouncing ball back to Ortega but the goalkeeper deals with it well.
34 mins: Forest get the ball into the box once more but cannot find a crucial final pass.
32 mins: Gibbs-White tries to pick out Jesus running through but the pass has too much on it, allowing Ederson to collect.
Jesus dispossesses Soyuncu and plays it into Gibbs-White who tries to play in Hutchinson but the pass is intercepted.
30 mins: Talisca is down, so the referee has stopped play to avoid any silliness.
Tedesco has thrown his jacket away. Things are getting serious.
28 mins: Forest have a couple of corners in quick succession. Ederson comes and punches but it comes straight back, and it becomes very scrappy in the box until the flag is raised for offside.
Almost a second for Forest thanks to a fine team move, which ends with Williams picking out Gibbs-White but his header is straight at Ederson.
26 mins: Ben Chia emails: “I noticed an interesting name on Fenerbahce’s bench. Archie Brown, an English defender who came through West Brom and Derby’s academy but actually started his professional career at Lausanne in Switzerland. He’s now at Fenerbahce via Gent in Belgium. Quite an interesting career path for an Englishman surely?”
Absolutely, and I love an Englishman abroad.
Skriniar is off, Soyuncu on.
24 mins: Skriniar is down but Forest play on, with Jesus almost scoring. Fener’s players are absolutely fuming but there was no need to stop for Forest. Everyone needs to calm down. The referee has to calm things down after a melee.
23 mins: I did once have a chat with Joe Worrall about Murillo loving a shot from distance.
GOAL! Anderson wins the ball back in midfield and Murillo takes it on, charging forward from the halfway line to 20 yards from goal, before smashing a shot into the corner.
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GOAL! Fenerbahce 0-1 Nottingham Forest (Murillo, 21)
Absolutely glorious from the Brazilian.
20 mins: Fener have a corner on the right, it’s a decent delivery but Mulder heads over from close range.
18 mins: Fener have a bit of possession, knocking it around the back with no great urgency. They probably need some of this to slow things down.
16 mins: Sangare produces a lovely bit of skill, beating two players in one go, to sum up the Forest superiority.
14 mins: I can’t imagine how loud it will become in the stadium when Fenerbahce string two passes together for the first time.
12 mins: Gibbs-White swings in the free-kick from the left after some argy-bargy in the box. The Forest skipper puts too much on the cross and it flies out of play.
10 mins: Hudson-Odoi is cleaned out for a cynical challenge from Skriniar. It’s a miserable challenge and he is rightly booked.
Meanwhile, Anderson is down with a hand/wrist problem.
8 mins: Forest are certainly on top at the moment and Hutchinson is looking far more confident than he did against Wolves.
Fenerbahce have offered next to nothing.
6 mins: Our man in Istanbul Ben Fisher has confirmed it’s very loud in the ground.
4 mins: Forest are looking positive and Hutchinson sends in a decent cross to the back post. The players in redare looking pretty jolly.
2 mins: Every Forest touch is being booed. It sounds quite deafening.
Forest have a corner on the left. Ederson punches clear and Fenerbahce eventually clear the ball to end the hissing.
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Kick-off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
“Forest have picked a tough place for a managerial Bosphorus bounce!” according to Peter Oh. “I wonder when Marinakis will be able to kick his habit of firing managers. Could he go cold Turkey today?”
Simon Frank makes a good point: “The Forest fan pictured is Ebby from Duisburg, who makes the trip over from Germany with astounding frequency.”
I was at Dyche’s final game in charge and Omari Hutchinson was underwhelming, to say the least. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to the new regime.
Pereira: “Today is three days working. but working to play in a way to try short communications, be very clear. Today I hope that I see my team play organised with tactical organisation, and be able to express themselves, play with courage and a mentality to win.”
There’s nothing to fear except fear itself.
Around 1200 Forest fans have travelled to Istanbul, which is a great effort. A long way to go at relatively short notice.
Cuddly toys on tour.
The Fenerbahce lineup is everything you want it to be … full of former Premier League players. Nelson Semedo is top of the list for me but I assume we all have a personal preference.
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And a personal good luck from me.
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Pereira goes with the strongest side available to him, eager to see what his players can do and showing Evangelos Marinakis he is taking the competition very seriously.
Ederson is in goal for Fener, meaning it is the former Manchester City goalkeeping bull pen on show, with Stefan Ortega down the other end.
Starting lineups
Fenerbahce (3-4-3): Ederson; Skriniar, Jayden, Mert; Semedo, Guendouzi, Kante, Talisca; Asensio, Cherif, Kerem
Subs: Tarik, Engin Can, Brown, Caglar, Yigit Efe, Ismail, Levent, Fred, Nene, Oguez, Alaettin
Forest (4-2-3-1): Ortega; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Sangare, Anderson; Hutchinson, Gbbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus
Subs: Gunn, Willows, Morato, Ndoye, Dominguez, Lucca, Yates, Cunha, McAtee, Bakwa, Abbott
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Preamble
Vitor Pereira has survived four days in charge at Nottingham Forest, earning him a chance of managing the team for the first time tonight. He is here to keep Forest in the Premier League, so it will be interesting to see how seriously he takes the Europa League.
He had a spell at Fenerbahce, so will know how hostile the atmosphere can be in Istanbul.
Ben Fisher has written about his latest adventure.
Kick-off: 5.45pm GMT
