As European football enters its spring knockout stretch, two English Premier League clubs carry the country’s hopes into the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, with one unlikely goalscoring sensation chasing a personal and collective fairytale.
Nottingham Forest finds itself in a tricky domestic bind this 2024-25 campaign: locked in a battle to avoid relegation from the top flight, sitting 16th in the table with just a three-point buffer over the drop zone. For manager Vitor Pereira, that fight for survival has naturally taken priority over the club’s first European campaign since the 1995-96 season, even leading him to rest key starters for the previous round against Midtjylland. Yet it is on the continental stage that Forest have turned in their most impressive performances of the year – and no player embodies that contrast more than 25-year-old striker Igor Jesus.
Since joining Forest from Brazilian side Botafogo in the off-season, Igor Jesus has struggled for goals in the cutthroat Premier League, netting just three times in 30 league outings. But in Thursday night Europa League action, the 2024 Copa Libertadores winner has exploded into form, notching seven goals to draw level as the competition’s outright top scorer. For the Brazilian, lifting the trophy and ending the campaign as the tournament’s leading marksman would be the realisation of a lifelong goal.
“Getting to the final and winning the Europa League would be a dream come true, especially as the top scorer,” Igor Jesus told UEFA’s official website on the eve of the first leg. His side travels to Porto’s iconic Estadio do Dragao for Thursday’s opening fixture, and the striker made clear he is under no illusions about the challenge ahead: Porto sits comfortably atop the Portuguese Primeira Liga and boasts a squad packed with top-tier talent, even if Forest can claim bragging rights from a 2-0 group-stage win over the Portuguese side earlier in the campaign, a result that makes Forest the only club to beat Porto in European competition this term.
“Porto have got a great team. They’ve got a lot of quality. We’ve also got quality,” Igor Jesus said. “We know it won’t be an easy game — in fact, it’ll be really tough. However, we’re willing to fight. We will go into Thursday’s first leg really focused and looking for a positive result to take home and defend for next week’s second leg.” Forest are chasing a first European title in 46 years, a milestone that would make their underdog run all the more memorable.
Across the quarter-final draw, another Premier League side, Aston Villa, also heads into Thursday’s first leg targeting silverware, with Unai Emery’s men facing a tough away trip to Italy to face Coppa Italia winners Bologna. Domestically, Villa has fallen out of the Premier League title race in recent weeks, leaving the Europa League as their only realistic shot at ending the 2024-25 season with a trophy. If any manager is built for success in this competition, it is Emery: the Basque coach has lifted the Europa League trophy four times throughout his career, and has now guided Villa to three consecutive quarter-final appearances across the Champions League and Europa League.
After booking their quarter-final spot with a dominant 3-0 aggregate win over Lille, Villa captain John McGinn said his squad is hungry to go all the way this term. “They want more now,” the Scottish midfielder said. “We need to take it one game at a time and keep pushing on, all the way.”
Bologna, however, are not just making up the numbers in the last eight. After pulling off a major upset to eliminate fancied Italian side Roma in the previous round, head coach Vincenzo Italiano is targeting another shock result against the Premier League side. Bologna have lost both of their previous meetings with Aston Villa over the last two seasons, and will enter the tie as underdogs once again – but that status has not stopped them before. “We will be the underdogs again but we will try to surprise again,” Italiano said after his side’s 5-4 aggregate win secured their quarter-final spot.
Beyond the two all-Premier-League-involved ties, the rest of the European quarter-final fixture list kicks off across the week. In other Europa League first legs on Wednesday, La Liga side Real Betis will travel up the Iberian coast to face Portuguese club Braga, with Bundesliga outfit Freiburg hosting Celta Vigo of Spain on Thursday. Over in the UEFA Conference League, the pick of the quarter-final first legs, all scheduled for Thursday, sees Crystal Palace host Fiorentina at Selhurst Park. Other Conference League ties see Rayo Vallecano welcome AEK Athens, Shakhtar Donetsk (playing their home fixture in Krakow, Poland due to ongoing conflict in Ukraine) host AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, and Strasbourg travel to face Mainz.