Four Super Eagles players are set for action on Thursday (today) as the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first legs get underway, with Ola Aina’s Nottingham Forest hosting Danish side Midtjylland at the City Ground, Terem Moffi and Zaidu Sanusi’s Porto travelling to VfB Stuttgart, and Cyriel Dessers’ Panathinaikos welcoming Real Betis to Athens, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Forest, competing in European competition for the first time in three decades, arrive at the tie on the back of a four-match winless run across all competitions that has left them hovering above the Premier League relegation zone only on goal difference.
However, Vitor Pereira’s side have already demonstrated their European pedigree this season, recording a surprise 3-0 first-leg win at Fenerbahce in the playoff round before going through 4-2 on aggregate.
Aina has been a consistent presence in Forest’s defensive setup throughout the campaign and faces a Midtjylland side that was one of the competition’s standout performers in the league phase, finishing third in the 36-team table with 19 points from eight matches, including a 3-2 victory over Forest in October.
Porto, meanwhile, travel to Stuttgart having drawn 2-2 with Benfica in O Classico last weekend, a result that exposed their struggles on the road — they have won just one of their last five away matches.
Moffi and Zaidu will be key figures for the Portuguese giants, who finished fifth in the league phase and are targeting a place in the quarter-finals for only the second time since lifting the trophy in 2010/11. Stuttgart head into the tie in strong home form, winning five of their seven competitive matches at the MHPArena since the turn of the year.
In Athens, Panathinaikos host Real Betis, having navigated their way through the playoffs via a penalty shootout against Viktoria Plzen. Dessers, who missed the tie after suffering an injury during Nigeria’s 2025 AFCON campaign in Morocco, has since returned to training, though it remains to be seen whether the 31-year-old striker will be involved on Thursday.
Betis, who finished fourth in the league phase with 17 points, arrive as the stronger side on paper but go into the tie on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Getafe.
If Forest and Porto both progress, a potential all-Premier League quarter-final between Forest and Aston Villa awaits, with Villa facing Lille in their own last-16 tie.
By: Peter Akinbo
