“Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that,” came the chant as Nottingham Forest supporters, not for the first time, enjoyed getting one over on Malmö. A lot has happened since Trevor Francis’s stooping header to clinch the European Cup in Munich in 1979 but Forest still cherish those days. A lot has also changed in the five weeks since Sean Dyche took the reins, Forest reinvigorated and a comfortable win thanks to goals by Arnaud Kalimuendo, Ryan Yates and Nikola Milenkovic enhanced their hope of qualifying for the Europa League knockout phase.
For Forest, this victory – against a Malmö side that had not played for almost three weeks after finishing sixth in their domestic league – represented a third straight win in all competitions and further built on the momentum gained from last weekend’s success at Liverpool. This was a re-run of Forest’s European Cup triumph in name but the game itself was free of any jeopardy or jitters.
This was an occasion dripping in nostalgia, an eagerly awaited reunion and a third competitive meeting between the teams since the European Cup final 46 years ago. Forest leaned into the history, too. They made a fuss of the heroes of 1979, giving them as well as their Malmö counterparts the red-carpet treatment, with 13 members of the Swedish club’s squad from then also in attendance. Both teams enjoyed dinner together before the match. Forest gave Frank Clark, Colin Barrett and co a rousing reception when they gathered on the pitch 15 minutes before kick-off and there was a typically superb tifo in the Trent End to boot.
“30th May 1979, John Robertson crossed it in from the left,” read half a giant banner, in block capitals, and while nobody needed reminding what happened next, the rest of it was unfurled as the players emerged from the tunnel. “And there’s Francis,” it read. Another brilliant tifo depicted Brian Clough observing events beside his assistant Peter Taylor on a bench at the Olympiastadion.
So, Forest had drunk in those beautiful memories, but what about the performance on the night? It was pretty good, too. They were in complete control from the moment Kalimuendo whistled an effort wide inside two minutes and established a two-goal lead at the break. Nicolás Domínguez sent an early header wide and then Zach Abbott, on his first European start, tried his luck.
It felt fitting that Yates, who joined Forest aged eight, made the first dent in the Malmö defence led by their own homegrown captain, Pontus Jansson, formerly of Leeds and Brentford. The Forest centre-back Milenkovic saw a cross cannon off a defender and into the path of Yates, who swept home right-footed from just inside the box to register his first goal since March.
Yates was involved in Forest’s second goal on the verge of half-time, too, his free header saved by Malmö’s goalkeeper Melker Ellborg but Kalimuendo on hand to convert the rebound from close range. James McAtee, the midfielder handed a rare start and just his second outing since September, was the catalyst, chipping a delicious ball towards Yates at the back post.
A minute earlier Callum Hudson-Odoi’s low effort was deflected wide off Malmö defender Colin Rösler, son of former Manchester City forward Uwe, and an unmarked Milenkovic also earlier had a powerful header instinctively repelled by Ellborg, who returned in place of the former Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen.
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This was Malmö’s first match since the Swedish Allsvenskan ended on 9 November and they struggled to match Forest’s intensity. Forest made it 3-0 when Milenkovic applied the finishing touch after his centre-back partner Murillo kept alive a corner. Yates had a volley blocked but the Serbia defender Milenkovic feasted on the leftovers.
Forest then went for the jugular, Hudson-Odoi dinking a right-foot shot on to the crossbar before Ibrahim Sangaré sent an ambitious effort wide from 30 yards. It was that kind of night. Dyche, mindful of Sunday’s league game here against Brighton, made seven changes from the team that stunned Liverpool at Anfield last weekend, when they also scored three goals, though he called on Elliot Anderson, Dan Ndoye and Igor Jesus midway through the second half.
It proved a hiccup-free night for Forest. Dyche could withdraw Murillo with the game long since boxed off and later introduced 19-year-old defender Jimmy Sinclair for his first-team debut. Dyche discussed the Forest old guard supplying “bits of gold” at weekly get-togethers and, almost five decades on, the current crop showed they are capable of a few nuggets of excitement, too.
