Nottingham Forest, take or leave it, is one of the most successful English football teams on the European continent, having won the Champions League twice in its history.
Forest had more than enough records as one of the dominant English football powerhouses in the early years, from becoming the first team to achieve the Invincible of English football to two-time European Cup winners.
Nottingham Forest 1979 Champions League (European Cup) Trophy
The 1978–79 season was a memorable one for The Tricky Trees. The European Cup started with a Preliminary Round, but Forest began in the First Round.
Brushing aside two-time European Cup winners Liverpool in the First Round increased the team’s momentum. In the second round, the club had the most accessible fixtures, beating AEK Athens 7-1 on aggregate to reach the quarter-finals.
The journey started to become a reality for Nottingham Forest fans at the time who wanted the club to win their first major European trophy.
An impressive 5-2 aggregate defeat of Swiss club Grasshopper and a dramatic win over German heavyweights Köln earned The Forest a place in the European Cup final for the first time.
The final played at the Olympiastadion in Munich in front of 57,500 spectators was a significant milestone for the club.
Nottingham Forest won their first European Cup trophy following the defeat of Swedish giants Malmö FF through Trevor Francis’s goal at halftime.
Nottingham Forest 1979–80 Champions League (European Cup) Victory
The Conquest of Europe, including the defeat of two-time winners Liverpool FC, had sent a strong message across the continent on Nottingham Forest’s emergence at the highest level of European football.
The club began their quest to retain the European Cup with a First Round clash with the Swedish side Öster. The Reds were again victorious after edging another Swedish side Malmö to their first trophy.
The successful outing against Argeș Pitești, BFC Dynamo and Ajax in the second quarter-finals and semifinal ensured the club’s second European final in two years.
Again, Nottingham Forest prevailed by scoring a lone goal to claim back-to-back Champions League trophies. Robertson’s 20th-minute goal was enough to put the club at the top of the English football map.