Malmo FF (H) 27/11/25

 

Nottingham Forest 3-0 Malmo FF

Yates 27'

Kalimuendo 44'

Milenkovic 59'

 

30th May 1979. A historic night in Munich. John Roberton crossed it in from the left and there was Francis. Forest had won their first European Cup; a moment that would be etched in their history forever. Last season, the Reds qualified for their first European campaign in 30 years. They found out their opponents in Monaco in August. All the fans scanned their eyes across the table stating all the fixtures but one in particular stood out. Malmo at home. This was going to be a special night.

Forest had five points from their opening four games, winning only against FC Porto. Malmo hadn’t started too well either as one of five teams yet to pick up a win in the competition. The Swedish side have struggled against English teams in Europe, losing eight out of their last nine. However, that one win was against their opponents of the night back in 1995. Sean Dyche named three changes to his side after their draw in Graz. He gave youngster Zach Abbott his European debut. Malmo lined up in the same way as they did in their defeat to Panathinaikos.

After a tifo looking back on that memorable fixture and a booming Mull of Kintyre, we were underway. From the off, the hosts were the dominant side, having the best opening chance. Following an awkward clearance straight into the air from Djuric, the ball bounced around in the area. Dominguez ran onto the ball and headed towards the bottom left corner but his effort bounced just wide of the post. Forest continued to threaten but struggled to create anything until they found a chance and clinically took it. Sangare quickly took a thrown in from the right which landed at the feet of Milenkovic in the box. He drove towards the byline before looking to get a cross in. The cross deflected off Johnsen and into the path of Yates whose first time finish from 15 yards found the bottom right corner.

As the first half drew to a close, Forest came close multiple times. Kalimuendo was denied by a smart save from Ellborg after he and Hudson-Odoi linked up well. Milenkovic’s free header from a corner was also well-saved whilst Hudson-Odoi’s edge of the box effort was deflected just wide of the right post. It looked as though the Reds weren’t going to capitalise on their dominance but they did find a second. McAtee and Hudson-Odoi linked up from a short corner on the right before McAtee whipped the ball into the box. Yates rose the highest forcing Ellborg to produce brilliant one-handed save. Unfortunately for the ‘keeper, the ball landed to Kalimuendo on the rebound for his first goal in the Garibaldi.

The opening 10 minutes of the second half was a continuation of Forest’s first 45. They had completely kept Malmo at arm’s length as the visitors only of the game shot came in the seventh minute. Things continued to worsen for Malmo as Forest found a third. Following a corner from the right, there was a scramble in the box. The ball final fell to Yates who got his leg up and struck it on the volley. His effort hit Johnsen and then Milenkovic but the Serbian was alert and ran onto the ball to tap home from just a few yards out. After a lengthy VAR check, Milenkovic had managed to keep himself onside.

The hosts seemed to really be enjoying themselves out there. McAtee found Hudson-Odoi on the left of the box. Hudson-Odoi tried to confuse his defender before chipping a shot towards the top right corner. However, his shot bounced off the crossbar. As the game neared full-time, the hosts continued to look comfortable. This allowed Dyche to turn to the bench and give 19-year-old Jimmy Sinclair his Forest debut.

The game ended 3-0 which sees Forest move into 16th, only two points off automatic qualification to the knockout round whilst Malmo sit in 34th, looking likely to exit the competition.

It was an incredibly dominant display from the team on Thursday night. My only fault would be that we could’ve scored more. We had 22 shots with 10 being on target but we only scored 3 goals. In this competition, lots of teams will finish on the same number of points so goal difference will be key in where we finish. I thought Abbott was brilliant but my man of the match was Sangare. Murillo also did well out of position. We now move onto the league where we need to continue this good run of form.

 

Forest: John Victor; Abbott, Milenkovic, Morato, Murillo (Williams 74’); Hudson-Odoi, Yates, Sangare (Anderson 66’), Dominguez (Ndoye 66’); Kalimuendo (Igor Jesus 66’), McAtee (Sinclair 84’)

Malmo: Ellborg; Djuric, Jansson, Rosler; Larsen, Johnsen (Christiansen 65’), Skogmar (Lewicki 87’), Busanello; Bolin (Ekong 52’), Haksabanovic (Berg 87’); Gudjohnsen (Busuladzic 65’)