Aitor Karanka is only concerned about doing his best for Nottingham Forest

Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2018 by PA

Aitor Karanka had to put friendship to one side as his Nottingham Forest team cruised to a 3-0 win over struggling Barnsley.

The Reds’ comfortable victory, which came thanks to first-half goals from Lee Tomlin and Ben Brereton and a late strike from Apostolos Vellios, left the Tykes two points adrift of safety in the Championship with just two games remaining.

Karanka remains close friends with Barnsley boss Jose Morais, who he worked alongside at Real Madrid, under Jose Mourinho.

But he had little sympathy for his opposite number at the City Ground – even if he could yet do Morais a favour by beating Barnsley’s relegation rivals Bolton on the final day.

“When you have been together; when you have worked at Real Madrid, you know that you have to try to win the game, regardless of who it is against,” said Karanka.

“I cannot forget that we are friends, but I am defending the Forest badge. I need to win for this club and in every game, I will try to do my best.

“We could do him a favour on the final day against Bolton. But it would not be because I want to do him a favour – it would be because I want to do my best for Forest; I want to win every game.

“We need to finish the season as well as possible, to set us up well for the start of next season. We want to win both of our last two games.”

Morais admitted it was pressure that was the deciding factor, as his side failed to make the most of the game in hand they held on the teams above them.

“When I looked at the quality of the team we were facing and the fact that they had no pressure, because they are in a different moment of the season, because they do not have anything to lose – their quality shone through,” said the Barnsley boss.

“They were able to play in a positive way. We had a little bit more pressure, because it was a must-win game for us.

“This made the difference between the two teams, in terms of the intensity and the decision making.

“We are in the same position that we were in last Saturday. The task is more difficult now, because we need to win our games and hope and expect that the other teams around us lose.

“If we speak about Bolton, they need to lose and we need to win. It is not in our hands any more. But we still have a chance and we need to fight.

“We have to give a good answer to what we saw today. We gave the advantage to an opponent with a lot of quality tonight.”