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“Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that,” echoed around the City Ground as Nottingham Forest supporters celebrated another success against their Swedish opponents. A great deal has occurred since Trevor Francis’s decisive header secured the European Cup in the year 1979, but Forest continue to treasure those glorious moments. Equally, major shifts have taken place in the weeks since the manager assumed control, with the team looking refreshed and securing a comfortable victory courtesy of goals from Arnaud Kalimuendo, Ryan Yates, and Milenkovic, enhancing their prospects of progressing in the Europa League.

Gaining Momentum with Another Consecutive Victory

For Nottingham Forest, this performance – against a Swedish side that had been inactive for almost three weeks after finishing in sixth place in their home competition – marked a third consecutive win across all competitions and added to the momentum gained from last weekend’s success at Liverpool. While this fixture was a re-run of Forest’s historic triumph in name, the game itself was free of any significant tension or nerves.

This was an event filled with nostalgia, an eagerly awaited meeting and the third competitive meeting between the sides since the European Cup final 46 years ago.

Forest leaned into the heritage, paying tribute to the legends of 1979 by providing them, along with their Malmö counterparts, the VIP welcome. 13 members of the Swedish club’s squad from that time were additionally in attendance. The two clubs enjoyed a meal together before the match. Frank Clark, Colin Barrett and company received a tumultuous welcome when they assembled on the pitch a quarter of an hour before the start, and a characteristically impressive tifo was shown in the home stand.

Remembering the Past

“30th May 1979, John Robertson delivered the ball from the left flank,” read one part of a large banner, in capital letters. While nobody needed reminding of what happened next, the remaining section was unfurled as the players came out from the tunnel. “And there’s Francis,” it continued. Another stunning tifo showed Clough watching events beside his assistant Taylor on a bench at the Olympiastadion.

Control from the Outset

So, Forest had soaked up those wonderful memories, but what about the performance on the evening? It was impressive, too. They were in complete control from the moment the forward whistled an effort wide inside two minutes and built a 2-0 advantage by the break. Domínguez sent an early header off target and then Zach Abbott, on his first European start, had a go.

It felt fitting that Yates, who joined Forest aged eight, made the initial breakthrough in the visitors' defense captained by their own academy product captain, Jansson, formerly of Leeds United and Brentford FC. The Forest centre-back Nikola Milenkovic saw a delivery deflect off a defender and into the path of Yates, who swept home right-footed from the edge of the box to register his maiden strike since last March.

Second Strike Seals Control

The scorer was involved in Forest’s next goal on the brink of half-time, too, his unmarked header parried by the shot-stopper Ellborg but Kalimuendo on hand to tap in the rebound from close range. McAtee, the midfielder handed a seldom start and just his second outing since September, was the spark, chipping a delicious ball towards his teammate at the back post.

A minute earlier, Callum Hudson-Odoi driven shot was deflected wide off the back Colin Rösler, son of former Manchester City forward Uwe, and an unmarked Milenkovic also earlier had a powerful header smartly repelled by the keeper, who returned in place of the former Aston Villa goalie Olsen.

Opponent's Struggles

This was Malmö’s first match since the domestic league concluded on 9 November, and they found it hard to equal the home team's energy. The Reds made it 3-0 when the defender scored after his defensive colleague Murillo headed back a corner. Yates had a volley blocked, but the Serbia centre-back Milenkovic feasted on the rebound.

Forest then pushed for more, with Hudson-Odoi dinking a effort on to the crossbar before Ibrahim Sangaré sent an optimistic effort off target from 30 yards. It was that kind of nights. The manager, mindful of the upcoming league game here against Brighton, made multiple alterations from the team that stunned the Reds at their ground last weekend, when they additionally netted three goals, though he introduced substitutes and Igor Jesus midway through the final period.

Smooth Evening for Forest

It proved a hiccup-free night for Forest. The coach could take off Murillo with the match already sewn up and later brought on 19-year-old full-back Sinclair for his first-team debut. Dyche talked about the club legends providing “bits of gold” at weekly get-togethers and, nearly fifty years on, the current crop showed they are capable of producing of excitement, as well.