Medina, Palacios, Quansah and Co train at Nottingham Forest

While one group of players, who played more minutes of the match on Wednesday evening, completed a recovery session inside, the other 13-man group begin with a quick strength segment outside. That was followed by various passing drills in small groups as well as two-v-one game on a small pitch. Interestingly, Forest's U21 team were working up a sweat on the adjacent pitch at the same time.

It was particularly pleasing to see new signing Facundo Medina involved in the hour-long session. The Argentinian initially trained with the group, then worked individually with the fitness coaches on the other side of the field.

Quansah: 'nice to be back'

Also on the pitch were World Cup returnees Jarell Quansah and Exequiel Palacios. The intensity was really turned up for the pair at the end of the session as the World Cup medal winners completed a number of sprints before heading for a well-earned shower. Quansah was clearly pleased with the work: "It's nice to be back. I'm recovered, even though my break wasn't long. I feel fresh and in good form."

Nathan Tella (muscular problem) and Axel Tape (illness) returned to action, too, after their recent ailments. The group was completed by U19 players Jonah Berghoff, Ben Hawighorst and Kenan Doganay. The concentration and tension levels were clear to see in all the players, with the focus already on the seventh and final friendly of the 2026/27 pre-season this Saturday, 15 August, at Premier League club Newcastle United.

dress rehearsal before competitive opener

Head coach Carles Martínez will lead his team through one more training session in Nottingham on Friday before they travel north-east to Newcastle.

Kick-off in the final friendly on Saturday is at 16:00 CEST (15:00 local time) at St. James' Park. Bayer 04 is broadcasting a free live stream of the game. Registered users can watch it for free on bayer04.de, in the Bayer 04 app and on Werkself.tv.