Pereira became Forest’s fourth boss this season after agreeing an 18-month deal to replace the sacked Sean Dyche on Sunday.
He made an instant impact as the Premier League strugglers powered to an impressive victory in Istanbul thanks to goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and Morgan Gibbs-White
Forest’s dominant display puts them in pole position to finish the job in the second leg at the City Ground on February 26.
“I realised before I came that the players have a lot of quality. They need results but they need to enjoy the game,” Pereira said. “I asked them to express themselves on the pitch. They did it. It was a very good result.”
Perched perilously just three points above the Premier League relegation zone, Forest’s main aim is to avoid dropping into the Championship.
But extending their first European campaign since 1995-96 would be a notable feat for a club starved of continental success since the Brian Clough era.
Pereira had been out of work since being sacked by Wolves in November after a dismal start to this season.
Murillo’s return to the starting line-up proved an inspired move by Pereira as the Brazilian centre-back opened the scoring in the 21st minute
Murillo held off two challenges before lashing a superb low strike past Ederson into the far corner from 25 yards.
Forest struck again in the 43rd minute.
Gibbs-White flicked on Elliot Anderson’s corner and Jesus pounced to head in from virtually on the goal-line.
Gibbs-White notched Forest’s third in the 50th minute, slotting home from Jesus’ pass.
In Glasgow, Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel made a pair of costly mistakes to leave O’Neill with few fond memories of his landmark 1,000th match.
The 73-year-old, who led Celtic to seven trophies from 2000 to 2005, was beaten for just the second time in 19 games over two stints as interim boss this season. (AFP)
Edited by Cecil Wong
