Pereira stresses he must ‘balance the energy’ in Europa League after reaching quarter finals | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest boss Vitor Pereira stressed that he must “balance the energy” of his squad after opting to make several changes for his side’s Europa League round of 16 tie against Midtjylland.

Forest progressed to the quarter finals of the competition after winning on penalties following a 2-2 draw over two legs.

Pereira made the decision to leave several of his key players such as Murillo, Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson on the bench for the clash in Denmark.

But with Forest also battling to secure Premier League survival, Pereira stressed he must keep both of his side’s ambitions in mind.

“We are in a position where we need to balance the energy of the players, both competitions,” Pereira explained.

“But when I said before the game that we came here to compete and to win the game, it was my feeling since the first minute.

“I had the chance to balance the energy of the players which is important for the next game.

“The maximum that they played today was 60 minutes and it’s something that we can recover the full energy from against Tottenham.

“I think we were the team that deserved to move forward over the two games.

“Now it’s time to put our minds to the next game because it’s very important for us.”