Nottingham Forest showed their support for teammate Elliot Anderson during their Europa League quarter-final tie with Porto. The England international was unavailable for the second leg of the Reds’ last-eight clash at the the City Ground . His absence came following the death of his mother, Helen. The home crowd showed their support by chanting ‘Geordie Maradona’ in the early minutes of the game, in reference to the midfielder. And when Morgan Gibbs-White opened the scoring in the 12th minute, he held up a shirt bearing Anderson’s name and the number 8, along with the message: “Family first, we are all with you.” JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Get all the Nottingham Forest latest via our Facebook page Anderson had been absent from training on Wednesday ahead of the game. Head coach Vitor Pereira said in his pre-match press conference he was unsure whether the 23-year-old would be available for the match. Ahead of kick-off, Forest said in a statement: “Elliot Anderson is unavailable for tonight’s fixture following the passing of his beloved mother, Helen. Everyone at Nottingham Forest Football Club extends its deepest condolences to Elliot and his family following this extremely sad news. Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies are with the Anderson family at this difficult time.” Gibbs-White’s opener on the night made it 2-1 to Forest on aggregate. It had finished 1-1 in Portugal last week, setting things up nicely for a tasty quarter-final second leg. Every day, the NottinghamshireLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Nottingham Forest content. Our dedicated reporter Sarah Clapson – who you can follow on X by clicking here – follows Forest home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Forest newsletter here . You can also get all your favourite content from NottinghamshireLive’s Forest team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club. If you prefer reading our Reds stories on your phone, consider downloading the NottinghamshireLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Nottingham Forest as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here .