Valencia head coach Gennaro Gattuso has claimed that the Spanish club will host Nottingham Forest for a friendly while the Premier League season is paused for the World Cup.
The Reds host Crystal Palace at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon but are then not in competitive action again until the day after Boxing Day when they make to trip to face Manchester United at Old Trafford. While some of the squad are expected to be involved at the tournament in Qatar, the majority of Steve Cooper's squad will not and face a month-and-a-half without a match as things stand.
Several Premier League clubs have announced that, much like during pre-season, they and their remaining players are set to be jetting off around the world during the domestic season's break. While Forest have yet to do so, Gattuso has now done it for them.
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The Italy World Cup winner as a player has told the local media in Valencia, including ElDesmarque, that the Reds are their opponents for one of five friendlies that they plan to play. Gattuso added that the match will be played at the club's Mestalla stadium.
It will be the second time that the two sides have met in the space of five months after the pair played out a 1-1 draw at Meadow Lane in late July as Forest completed their pre-season preparations and Jesse Lingard pulled on the Garibaldi for the first time in a match. On that occasion, Carlos Soler, who later joined Paris Saint-Germain on transfer deadline day, opened the scoring late on in the first half before Brennan Johnson equalised seven minutes from time.
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