2 hours ago
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Already for Ange Postecoglou it feels like an interminable wait. Just as it seemed he would record his first victory as Nottingham Forest manager in a competition he won last season, Antony levelled for Real Betis to kill the party. Igor Jesus scored twice as Forest recovered from Cédric Bakambu’s opener and hit the woodwork in pursuit of a first-half hat-trick but the former Manchester United winger, derided after struggling in the Premier League, equalised in the 85th minute. Compared to last week at Swansea, it was nothing – the Championship club scored in the 93rd and 97th minute to earn a comeback Carabao Cup victory – but it was galling all the same.
This was a big moment, Forest’s first competitive game on the European stage since March 1996 and, as Postecoglou highlighted, finally an opportunity for the generations of supporters who have heard the stories of yesteryear but not lived the experiences. About 5,000 Forest supporters travelled to Seville – 3,385 stationed in the away end, up in the gods at this beige out-of-town arena temporarily home to Betis while the Benito Villamarin is being upgraded. Most descended on the stadium from Parque de los Perdigones, a communal march presenting the ideal opportunity for fans to relive those less salubrious jaunts down the years.
The Forest supporters sang about trips to Gillingham, Huddersfield, Hull and Rotherham; five years ago on Thursday they lost 1-0 at Huddersfield, with Ryan Yates, among the substitutes here, the sole survivor from the squad that day. Marinakis has spent millions furnishing the squad since, including £200m this summer so that the squad was ready to compete on all fronts, and on Market Square, at a promotion party three years ago, the Greek billionaire vowed to return Forest to Europe. “Sometimes you don’t see the future because you always talk about the past,” Marinakis, who was here to see what unfolded said.
Consider this a vision fulfilled, then, Igor Jesus becoming Forest’s first goalscorer in Europe since Steve Stone’s consolation against Bayern Munich at the City Ground 29 years ago. Betis began quicker, Ángel Ortiz whizzing down the touchline after stealing possession from Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White was booked inside two minutes for tugging at the shirt of the former Leeds full-back Junior Firpo. Betis gained the lead after quarter of an hour, Antony skating past Morato and punching a pass into Bakambu, who blasted high into the top corner of Matz Sels’s goal.
Betis’s lead lasted just three minutes, Igor Jesus capping a slick Forest move. Forest shifted the ball from left to right, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Elliot Anderson playing one-touch passes before Douglas Luiz located Gibbs-White, playing on the right of a three-pronged attack. Gibbs-White slid a diagonal ball across goal and Igor Jesus converted from inside the six-yard box. Postecoglou retreated towards the away dugout, applauding as he went, and more joy followed five minutes later. Douglas Luiz whipped an inswinging corner into the box and Igor Jesus headed in.
Forest were rampant and, while Betis contained them better in the second half, the visitors should have extended their lead. Dilane Bakwa volleyed over and then Arnaud Kalimuendo, who replaced the cautioned Igor Jesus, fluffed his lines as Forest soared upfield. Zinchenko ignored Dan Ndoye, another substitute, to his left and instead fed Kalimuendo, whose first touch damaged his chances of beating Pau López in the Betis goal.
The size of the task facing Forest was clear given Betis, eighth in La Liga, had lost just one of their previous 18 home matches in European competition.
The Betis substitute Pablo Fornals, a couple of minutes after replacing captain Giovani Lo Celso, flashed a shot past the Forest goal and it proved a warning sign the visitors did not heed. Natan, the centre-back, made a mess of a golden chance a minute later, but Antony would seize his.
