Nottingham Forest’s Europa League campaign was so close to starting with a win, but a late goal from Real Betis star Antony earned the Spaniards a 2-2 draw and extended Ange Postecoglou’s wait for his first victory as Forest boss.
In Nottingham’s first European game in 29 years, the Premier League side led, thanks to a five-minute double from summer signing Igor Jesus, after Cedric Bakambu had given Betis an early lead. With just 23 minutes gone and Forest 2-1 up it seemed like Ange’s team were playing the football the Aussie boss is famed for with the Brazilian striker playing Samba style. While the La Liga giants had the lion’s share of possession Forest had more attacking flair, recording 16 shots to nine and six to four on target.
In truth, Forest could easily have been 4-1 up as they cut through the Betis defence and Postecoglu, true to form, took off midfielder Douglas Luiz to bring on another forward in Diane Bakwa; and that left his team a little more open, which Antony exploited to give Betis a share of the spoils. As Forest began to look a little ragged their hosts threw everything at them and when Roca crossed for Antony he fired a bullet into the top corner.
Postecoglou, appointed to succeed Nuno Espirito Santo, is now the first Nottingham Forest manager to fail to win any of his first four matches in charge since 1947, having already lost to Arsenal and Swansea City while drawing with Burnley.
Quick-fire double for Roma
One of our SBOTOP picks was Nice at home to AS Roma and Gian Piero Gasperini’s Romans got off to the perfect start to their Europa campaign with a 2-1 victory. Roma have reached the semi-finals three times in recent seasons and they took the game to Nice, scoring two goals in three minutes to stun the French. First, Evan Ndicka met a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner with a superb header and then Gianluca Mancini took a cross from Kostas Tsimikas and fired home.
Terem Moffi pulled a goal back for Nice, from the penalty spot, with just over ten minutes remaining, but the Ligue 1 side was toothless, with only two shots on target in the entire game and Roma held out comfortably.
Nice don’t seem to have much luck against Italian sides, losing twice to Napoli and three times to Lazio, so their fans can’t have been too surprised! Next up the French side faces Fenerbahce who also started with a loss.
Meanwhile, the pre-tournament Europa League 2025 betting odds picked out I Giallorossi as one of the likely winners; and this clinical display did nothing to change that; and next up Roma face another French foe in Lille.
Freiburg are up and running
After the heartbreak of missing out on Champions League football, SC Freiburg have at least got their Europa League campaign off to a winning start as they beat Swiss side FC Basel 2-1. The visitors came out firing as Alban Ajeti forced a brilliant save from Freiburg stopper Noah Atubolu with a bullet of a header; but the Germans soon found a way into the game. And they were ahead, on the half hour, when Johan Manzambi’s pass was deflected into the path of Patrick Osterhage, and he fired home.
With former Liverpool star Xherdan Shaqiri influential in midfield, Basel were well in the game until Freiburg doubled their lead early in the second half. Wing wizard Vincenzo Grifo curled in a peach of a cross which Max Eggestien headed home and the hosts were well in control. SC Freiburg could have extended their lead but they were wasteful in front of goal and the nerves did creep in when Basel substitute Philip Otele curled in a beauty to halve the deficit with six minutes and injury time to play. There weer one of two more hairy moments for the Germans but Freiburg stayed strong and picked up the win they deserved.
So the first set of Europa League 2025 results are in, with wins too for Dinamo Zagreb, SC Braga, FC Midtjylland and Ludogorets; and on Thursday night another four of the big guns are in action when Aston Villa host Bologna and German hot shots VfB Stuttgart take on La Liga’s Celta Vigo. But, so far, the headlines belong to the victors of AS Roma and SC Freiburg, and Real Betis star Antony who stole the show in Seville.
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