Fenerbahce meet Forest in the first leg of their knockout play-off in the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League.
Fenerbahce finished 19th in the league phase, whilst Forest managed a 13th-placed finish to secure their passages into this stage of the competition.
Teams
Fenerbahce will have N’Golo Kante, Matteo Guendouzi and Sidiki Cherif available after they were registered to their Europa League squad for the knockout stages earlier this month.
Forest will be without Willy Boly after he missed their goalless draw at home to Wolves in the Premier League, due to a knee injury which led Sean Dyche to drop him from their Europa League squad list prior to Dyche’s sacking.
Murillo (calf) could return but Matz Sels (groin), Nicolo Savona, John Victor and Chris Wood (all knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Fenerbahce host Forest at Chobani Stadium on Thursday 19 February at 8:45 TRT (5:45pm GMT), live on TNT Sports 3 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Fenerbahce’s first-ever meeting against Forest.
- Forest are making their first-ever trip to Fenerbahce in all UEFA competitions.
- This is Forest’s first-ever clash against Turkish opposition across all UEFA competitions.
- Fenerbahce kept a single clean sheet at home in the league phase (W2, D1, L1).
- Three of Igor Jesus’ six Europa League goals for Forest this season were scored away from home.
Prediction
Despite having suffered just two defeats in the league phase, Fenerbahce managed just three clean sheets which might look a concern but their home games were often closely fought, offering belief that they can get at least a draw or even the first-leg advantage if play more clinically than they did against Aston Villa last month.
Forest meanwhile should get a new managerial bounce following Viktor Pereira’s arrival and he has had a few days of training with the squad, but they will have to be more clinical than they were against Wolves last week because they ideally need a result to take into their home leg.
Fenerbahce though have a quality midfielder in Kante now available so the battle between him and Forest’s Elliott Anderson should be an interesting watch, but Forest do seem to be finding some belief performance wise despite their managerial switch so I can see a draw here.
Prediction: Fenerbahce 1-1 Forest
Result: Fenerbahce 0-3 Forest
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