Nottingham Forest have announced they will play Valencia in a friendly during the upcoming World Cup break.
Steve Cooper’s side will travel to Spain on Friday, December 16, to face the La Liga side at the Mestalla Stadium. Kick-off will be 7.30pm local time, 6.30pm UK time.
A statement from the Reds said: “The Club has proud history with Valencia having been the first European side to visit the Mestalla and compete in an official match - the first leg of a knockout round in the Fairs Cup - in September 1961. Valencia were also the guests at our centenary.
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“The friendly game is a key part of Valencia’s celebrations to mark the centenary of Mestalla, their home stadium. Valencia, managed by former Italy international and AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso, currently sit tenth in the Spanish top-flight, and faced the Reds in a pre-season friendly back in July. Brennan Johnson scored Forest’s goal in a 1-1 draw at Meadow Lane.
“Ticketing details for this fixture will be announced in due course. The club is also currently finalising details of further matches during the winter break and will update supporters once these are confirmed.”
Forest will play their final match before the season pauses when they host Crystal Palace on Saturday. The campaign restarts in December, with the Reds’ first game back set to be their fourth round Carabao Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers.
Cooper recently said of Forest's plans for during the break: “We do have a plan for the break, in terms of scheduling, training content and games, which we will announce soon. It’s taken a little bit of finalising.
“But 90 percent of it was done a while ago, because we knew the break was coming. A lot of it was planned last year when we were in the Championship.
"What I do know is we have a strong plan. It is one that has been thought out at all levels, from the point of view of coaching, physical, strategic - with Filippo (Giraldi, sporting director) involved now, which has been great.
“We have also got to plan a little bit for when players may or may not come back from the World Cup. Hopefully we’ve got quite a few players going away, although maybe not quite as many as some of the other clubs. We’ve got a plan."
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