00:00As another season comes to a close in European football, there have been some surprise performances across the continent.
00:08Let's take a look at some of the teams who've had a much better season than expected.
00:18Hello and welcome to Football Now, here from the Albayt Stadium in Qatar.
00:24A big reason of why we love football are the fairytale stories that develop from unexpected places.
00:31And across Europe this season we've seen several examples of teams outperforming expectations and achieving things we didn't think they'd be capable of back in August.
00:42Starting in England, where after two seasons of battling relegation, Nottingham Forest have enjoyed their best domestic season since the turn of the century.
00:51They're now on the cusp of qualifying for European competition next season and also made the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1989.
01:01I think just the feeling around the city has just been an absolute pleasure to be around.
01:05It's really good times to be a Forest fan at the moment.
01:08Beating Liverpool away was massive.
01:10I know it was early in the season but I think to go to Anfield and beat them for the first time I think it was in 55 years.
01:17Even the great Brian Clough couldn't do that.
01:19I think growing up you've listened to so many stories about people going to the European Cup finals, going to Wembley a lot under club and it being like a regular occurrence.
01:29This is very much uncharted territory for a lot of supporters including myself.
01:33It's going to mean so much because it's my football club and we've been there before and we was this like lucky underdog.
01:38It'll bring in business, it brings in a lot of money as we all know.
01:41It'll bring in better footballers and then we can then try and compete to get back into it.
01:47It's fair to say that the upward trajectory of Forest probably began last season when they hired Portuguese coach Nuno Espirito Santo to replace Steve Cooper.
01:58Nuno previously enjoyed success at Wolverhampton Wanderers before going on to win a Saudi Pro League title with Al-Itihad.
02:06But he prominently felt like he had a point to prove in English football after a failed stint at Tottenham in 2021.
02:14He's now the favourite to win this year's Premier League Manager of the Season award.
02:19I love Nuno. I think he's great. He's honest. I think he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's passionate.
02:25I think his backroom staff, they're a good team just like the players are.
02:28It's been really good to see the season of him just showing more professional personality personally.
02:33Because I think before he had such a tough time. I think this season he's kind of really come out of his shell.
02:38He's expressed his heart to everyone in terms of off the pitch and on the pitch.
02:42And I think now he's earned his respect. I think he's earned his reputation back.
02:46I think what we're seeing is what we saw at Wolves.
02:48Let's take a look at Germany now, where Mainz are also fighting to qualify for European competition
02:53after spending the last decade hovering around mid-table in the Bundesliga.
02:58So what has been the key difference this year that's pushing them further up the table?
03:03Yeah, well, the improvements come from Bo Henriksen.
03:05When he arrived in February 2024, Mainz had won just one Bundesliga game all season.
03:11Henriksen's success, which has continued this year, was going live on the side to bring energy back into the team.
03:16To make them defensively much more resistant and resilient.
03:18I suppose you'd have to go back to 2015, 2016 when Mainz finished 6th under Martin Schmidt.
03:25That would be kind of their most successful recent finish.
03:27But they've never played Champions League before.
03:29Considering who they're competing with, it would mean an enormous amount.
03:33Players can really easily become pigeonholed.
03:34This is kind of, you know, you belong at a certain level of the game or, you know, a certain part of the table.
03:39Whereas the thing what Henriksen's done has been, in a way, quite old-fashioned.
03:42Because he's taken players who have probably been written off.
03:44And yeah, you're heading for the first wide-up Bundesliga.
03:46And that's probably where some of these guys belong.
03:48And yet, the improvement individually in some of them is amazing.
03:52And I think that figurative trophy for that journey.
03:55It is European football.
03:56The Champions League is not the be-all and end-all from Mainz.
03:58Like, finishing in a conference league position is still an amazing year.
04:02And enough probably to put Henriksen in manager of the year.
04:04There's also a similar story unfolding in France, where R.C. Strasbourg are close to making it into European competition for the first time since the turn of the millennium.
04:14Their squad has an average age of just under 22 years old.
04:18And their coach, Liam Rossignor, is in only his second full-time managerial role.
04:23And his first outside of England.
04:25So, how has he found the formula to get Strasbourg on the cusp of Europe's elite competitions?
04:32For my part, what Liam Rossignor has managed to do with this team in so little time, it's really impressive.
04:38Because we're talking about a club that ended the 13th season last year.
04:42And today, as you said, they are playing the first place.
04:45Carrément in course for a championship in Champions League.
04:49Which would have been impensable in a few months.
04:52He has to give confidence to a very young group, but full of talent.
04:56When we look at the players like Sebastian Nanazi, Habib Diara, Dylan Bakwa, or Emmanuel Eméga.
05:02These are explosive profiles, techniques, capable of making the difference at every moment.
05:07And behind it, you have a defense that is solid.
05:09So, this mix of youth and solidity is what makes the strength of Strasbourg this season.
05:14It's offensive, structurally and ambitious.
05:17There's an insight for you then into three clubs across the continent who have blown away expectations this season, no matter what happens from here.
05:39But, can they maintain this form and qualify for European competition?
05:44Let us know using the hashtag FootballNowOverachievers.
05:48That's all we've got time for though here this week.
