Owner Evangelos Marinakis was in the City Ground stands as Nottingham Forest made Liverpool work hard for their FA Cup quarter-final victory.
And head coach Steve Cooper was pleased to have the Greek businessman watching on as his players put in a performance to be proud of. The Reds fought brilliantly against their Premier League opponents, eventually losing 1-0 to a Diogo Jota goal in the second half.
But it could have been so very different had the hosts put away some good chances. Philip Zinckernagel spurned the best one, when he fired wide from a Brennan Johnson cross - immediately before the visitors bagged what proved to be the winner.
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Forest were positive throughout, though, and got into some promising positions. Ryan Yates argued he should have had a penalty, and had a headed chance saved. Joe Lolley had seen an effort deflected behind in the first half, and Cafu had a decent opportunity late on.
“It was nice for him to be here. Obviously it’s been a difficult time with covid over the last couple of years, and travelling has not been as easy as it once was,” Cooper said of Marinakis.
“It’s brilliant that he was here. He’s feeling a bit like me, ‘okay, not bad, but it’s what might have been’."
It was the first time Marinakis had been at the City Ground since March 2020, when Sabri Lamouchi was still in charge. Forest had lost 3-0 at home to Millwall that day, after which Marinakis tested positive for coronavirus.
