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Stefan Ortega has been a very decent signing for Nottingham Forest since joining the club from Manchester City in January.
The goalkeeper has enjoyed some really positive performances, which came in timely fashion after Matz Sels suffered a groin injury.
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Sels won the Golden Glove last season, but much like a number of other players, his form has massively tailed off during 2025/26 in concerning fashion.
Yesterday, Ortega was omitted from the Forest squad after suffering an injury against Fenerbahce and before the game, Vitor Pereira cleared up the reason for leaving him out.
Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesVitor Pereira makes Stefan Ortega claim
Sels might have done better with the first Brighton goal scored by Gomez, and after going down for treatment twice, there is a sense that this game came a bit too soon for the Belgian.
Ortega has been in fine form, and it will be interesting to see which goalkeeper gets the nod to play when both custodians are fit enough to play.
After leaving him out of the squad to play Brighton, Pereira spoke to Sky Sports about the goalkeeper, and it would appear that he’s struggling with the problem he picked up against Fenerbahce.
He said: “Stefan Ortega was doing very well, but he got an injury, and it was a big risk to come into this game – it was not possible.
“For our luck, Sels is fit, and Sels has experience which today could be important for us to have him in our goal.”
Ortega is better option than Sels
The Belgian goalkeeper will be eyeing a place in the World Cup squad for the summer, but his form this season has been concerning.
He’s started to collect niggling injury problems, and when he has played, he’s cost Forest a few goals with some erratic and lacklustre goalkeeping.
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Ortega has been very good since coming in, and one thing that he does offer ahead of Sels is a large amount of composure when it comes to playing out from the back.
Hopefully, the German won’t be out too long, and he can return to action in the coming days to bolster Forest’s fight for survival and Europa League glory.
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