Nottingham Forest fell to a 3-2 defeat to Atromitos in a behind-closed-doors friendly in Greece as Gustavo Scarpa starred for his new side.
Steve Cooper has been putting his squad through their paces as they prepare for the season to resume after the World Cup. The Reds got their friendlies underway with a run-out against Stoke last week before flying out to Greece.
Forest got off to a strong start against Atromitos, managed by former Wales boss Chris Coleman, as new signing Scarpa’s corner was converted into an own goal in the fourth minute. Atromitos were shortly back on level terms, though, through midfielder Andreas Kuen.
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In an action-packed start to the first-half, it was Scarpa who was at the centre of the action again in the 20th minute as his cross was met by Ryan Yates, with the midfielder firing in from the rebound. Cooper’s side were unfortunate to go into the break with only a one-goal lead as Emmanuel Dennis and Taiwo Awoniyi tested goalkeeper Andreas Gianniotis.
After the interval, Loic Bade went close to making it 3-1 with an effort from distance. However, Atromitos managed to complete a comeback through strikes from Georgios Tzovaras and Konstantinos Kotsopoulos.
A clash against Evangelos Marinakis-owned Olympiacos is next up for Cooper’s side at the Karaiskakis Stadium on December 10. Forest will then travel to the Mestalla Stadium on December 16 to take on Valencia, days before they return to action in the Carabao Cup against Blackburn Rovers.
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