Nottingham Forest v Bayer Leverkusen: Starting XIs confirmed for pre-season friendly
Nottingham Forest and Bayer Leverkusen will meet in a pre-season friendly at The City Ground in West Bridgford, Nottingham, United Kingdom tonight, with both clubs naming their starting lineups.
Forest head into the fixture as they continue preparations for the 2026-27 Premier League season, having played seven pre-season friendlies and won three of their first four; they arrive after three consecutive defeats. The Reds’ recent losses were a 4-1 defeat to Sporting Lisbon in their final match of July, followed by 1-0 reversals to Udinese and Barcelona in two 45-minute contests on Saturday night. By contrast, Bayer Leverkusen’s preseason run has resulted in successive wins over Baumberg, Offenbach, Genk, RW Essen and Sevilla.
Nottingham Forest’s starting XI for the match is: Sels; Diomande; Milenković, Murillo, Aina, Sangaré, Schlager, Williams, Gibbs-White, Ndoye, I. Jesus. The Forest substitutes named are: Victor; Bott, Morato, Hudson-Odoi, Domínguez, Awoniyi, Kalimuendo, Da Silva Moreira, Yates, Jair Cunha, McAtee, Netz, Richards, Bakwa, Bindon, Abbott. Forest also posted on their social channels: "Taking on @bayer04fussball tonight. 📋Watch live on Forest TV."
Bayer Leverkusen’s starting lineup was listed as: Blaswich (GK), Vázquez, Belocian, Badé, Erick Gutiérrez, Maza Fernández, Tillman, Terrier, Schick, Poku. Leverkusen’s bench includes: Flekken, Lomb, Hofmann, Moreira, Tapsoba, Arthur, Oermann, Boniface, Garcia, Berghoff, Alfa-Ruperecht, Doganay, Hawighorst, Kofane. The club shared the selection ahead of the match.
Leverkusen will be without several players through injury, with Kennet Eichhorn, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Nathan Tella and Montrell Culbreath all ruled out. Jarell Quansah, who has recently returned to the Nottingham Forest squad after participating in the 2026 World Cup for England, is still not included in Forest’s matchday selection. Those absences feature in the pre-match information released by both clubs.
The fixture is scheduled at The City Ground in West Bridgford and is listed as part of Forest’s ongoing pre-season programme; the club confirmed live coverage on Forest TV. Khel Now — which published the lineups — advised readers to follow its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, download its Android or iOS app, or join its Telegram community for further updates.
Forest manager Glasner will use the match as part of his assessment ahead of the start of the new Premier League season, and the XI named tonight is intended to reflect those selection considerations.
