Ange Postecoglou has said Nottingham Forest’s return to Europe rewards dreamers and their rise encapsulates “what football was always designed to be”.
Forest’s Europa League opener at Real Betis on Wednesday is their first competitive match on the continental stage since March 1996, when they lost in the Uefa Cup quarter-finals to Bayern Munich.
Only four years ago Forest were 23rd in the Championship and Postecoglou, who lifted the Europa League trophy with Tottenham in May, said the club being in the competition enticed him to the job.
Asked about the club’s journey to this point, the Forest head coach said: “Amazing. It is brilliant. It is what football was always designed to be … if you dream and you do things well, then you can reach the absolute pinnacle of whatever endeavour you’re in.”
Forest supporters have travelled in their thousands to Spain – officially, Forest have 3,385 tickets – to witness their return to Europe, some of whom likely saw the club win the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.
“I said it when I was at Celtic too, when a club’s got a couple of stars on its badges, it’s special,” the Australian said. “Because you only earn them one way, and that is by winning a European Cup or a Champions League. You literally can’t buy that. You have to earn that.
“I think when you carry something like that on your shirt, you can tap into it, because it shows you that there’s the possibility of success if you dream of it and work hard for it. When you go out there, you’re representing not just today’s fans and today’s players, but also those in the past that have got you to where you are today.”
Almost the entire Forest squad have travelled to Seville, including the ineligible record signing, Omari Hutchinson, who was omitted from the 22-man squad submitted by Postecoglou’s predecessor, Nuno Espírito Santo.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, originally left out by Forest, has replaced Ola Aina in the squad after the club applied to Uefa given the Nigeria full-back is sidelined for three months. Murillo trained on Monday but has not travelled to Spain.
The 72-year-old Manuel Pellegrini will be in the opposite dugout to Postecoglou at the Estadio La Cartuja, Betis’s temporary home during rebuilding work. Pellegrini guided Betis to the Conference League final last season, which they lost to Chelsea.
“Huge respect for Mr Pellegrini,” Postecoglou said. “I’m not going to mention his age, but he just keeps going, he’s a quality manager and he gives hope for young 60-year-olds like me that we’ve still got some football in us. He’s an absolute gentleman.”
