Nottingham Forest will play Panathinaikos or Fenerbahce in the Europa League play-off round after ending their league phase with a 4-0 win over Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros.
Igor Jesus’ brace after Bence Otvos’ early own goal and James McAtee’s late penalty made it an easy evening for Forest at the City Ground.
Defeat at Braga last week ensured Sean Dyche’s side had next to no chance of securing automatic qualification to the knockout round, but victory here ensured they get home advantage in the second leg of next month’s play-off tie.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis could be seen rubbing his hands at the prospect of playing the Greek side, who are bitter rivals of his other club Olympiakos, while a trip to Istanbul seems less enticing.
Their exact opponents will be decided on Friday but they are guaranteed two more fixtures in an already packed schedule.
Keane’s return to these shores did not go as he would have wanted as his side also go into the play-offs after they slipped out of the top eight.
The Irishman, who has been heavily linked with becoming the next Tottenham manager, made a pre-match vow that his side would attack their hosts in a bid to seal automatic progress, and he was true to his word as they almost took the lead in the sixth minute.
Jonathan Levi whipped in a dangerous cross from a short corner which was met by Kristoffer Zachariassen but his header crashed on to the post.
Forest threatened soon after as Dan Ndoye danced into the penalty area and saw his low shot saved by David Grof, and the hosts did go in front in the 17th minute.
Ryan Yates won the ball and his cross to no one was unfortunately turned into his own net by Otvos.
Yates was involved again as Forest doubled their lead four minutes later. He won another tackle and slipped in Jesus, who guided his shot neatly into the bottom corner.
Those two goals knocked Ferencvaros out of their stride but they came close to pulling one back just before half-time.
It was from another Zachariassen header, which this time goalkeeper Matz Sels tipped over the crossbar, with the Belgian then flapping at the corner.
Forest laid siege on their visitors’ goal at the start of the second half as they looked for more goals.
Yates had a drilled effort saved by Grof, Jesus flashed a header wide and Nicolas Dominguez’s header hit the post.
They finally added a third in the 55th minute as Jesus grabbed his second of the evening, latching on to Ibrahim Sangare’s ball over the top and powering a fine finish into the bottom corner.
The visitors continued to threaten and rattled the woodwork again as Bamidele Yusuf powered a header into the crossbar.
Forest rounded it off at the death when McAtee stroked home a penalty after the hapless Otvos tripped Ndoye.
