Nottingham | Forest players gain valuable minutes against Monaco

Nottingham Forest 0 - 0 AS Monaco

Nottingham Forest played out a goalless draw with Ligue 1 side Monaco in a rain-soaked pre-season friendly in Chesterfield

Author | Kieran M

Stadium| SMH Group Stadium

Several of Nuno Espírito Santo’s players gained valuable minutes ahead of the new campaign.

It marked the first outing of the summer for a number of the Reds squad, who continued their preparations at the SMH Group Stadium before flying out to Portugal on Monday for a warm weather training camp. There they are set to face Fulham and Estoril Praia.

A closer look at what happened

Forest began brightly, with Morgan Gibbs-White reacting sharply to Callum Hudson-Odoi’s corner, directing a header on target that was saved by Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn.

The French side responded swiftly, Maghnes Akliouche’s curling cross brushing the top of Matz Sels’ crossbar as Forest were briefly put under pressure. Monaco grew into the contest, with Aleksandr Golovin seeing a deflected shot drift narrowly wide, while Saïmon Bouabré forced a smart stop from Sels.

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The match offered a first opportunity of the summer for several players to test their fitness, and Forest rotated their squad throughout. Breel Embolo nearly broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time, but Sels was alert to keep out his powerful header.

Carlos Miguel replaced Sels at the break and was called into action soon after, racing off his line to deny a Monaco attacker in a one-on-one. The Brazilian goalkeeper remained busy, quickly gathering the ball after thwarting Mika Biereth just after the hour mark.

Forest pushed for a late winner, with Dale Taylor volleying just wide from a Jimmy Sinclair cross, but the stalemate remained intact at the final whistle.