Forest embracing ´magical and special´ Europa League adventure, says Yates

Ryan Yates revelled in Nottingham Forest’s “magical and special” European journey, following their hard-earned 1-1 draw with continental heavyweights Porto.

Forest claimed a share of the spoils at Estadio do Dragao on Thursday, ensuring their Europa League quarter-final tie remains firmly in the balance ahead of next week’s second leg.

Martim Fernandes’ bizarre 13th-minute own goal dragged Vitor Pereira’s side back on level terms, after William Gomes had put the hosts in front just two minutes earlier.

The Reds were the first side to deny Porto victory at home in the Europa League this season, while the Portuguese giants last failed to win on home soil in the competition when scoring first back in October 2019 in a match against Rangers.

“We will take it, going back to the City Ground with everything to play for,” Yates said. “It’s going to be a good game.

“It was a fair result in the end. I think we could have played better, there are things to improve upon. But they have won every game here all season in the Europa League, so it can’t be too bad.

Thank you for your incredible support tonight in Porto, Reds.pic.twitter.com/2rZJ0SjScx

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 9, 2026

“There’s something special about European games at the City Ground. It’s magical, the support is incredible. This journey we are on in Europe is special and, as you can see, they [the fans] are enjoying it and so are we.”

Pereira also felt it was a strong result for Forest.

He said: “A good result, in my opinion. Porto, playing at home, are a strong team. They have momentum with supporters, so I think we did well.

“The players tried everything and 1-1 is a good result. Playing at home, we will see what we can do.”

Porto have now failed to win any of their five Europa League matches against English opposition (D2 L3), their longest streak without victory against sides from a single nation.

“We are a bit frustrated as we could have had a two or three-goal advantage to take to Nottingham,” head coach Francesco Farioli told UEFA. “Facing a side of this level, we dominated the game, so we have many good things to consider.

“We need to repeat the same performance with a better level of finishing. At some moments, we had better pressure between the boxes, but we needed to find space in a better way.

“We did our things the right way, and we created good chances. We weren’t as consistent as we usually are in games. We barely conceded a shot on target, and I remember four or five good saves from Stefan Ortega.”