Trailing 1-0 from the first-leg, Forest reached the Europa League quarterfinals on penalties after winning in Denmark 2-1 following extra-time on Thursday.
“First half, I must be honest, I just enjoyed the game,” Pereira said. “We have the talent and we have the character, so I really believed we could make it happen.
“They have the talent and they have the spirit. I said to go play and enjoy themselves because we have the quality to come here and win the game. For me, for the players and for the supporters, they deserve to move forward in this competition and to feel the winning feeling.
“We had practiced penalties a lot because we have been working on set-plays and I really believed we had enough time to win the game. I think we deserved it.
“Today, my players deserve it. The players that started the game and the players who came off the bench deserve to celebrate and to move forward.
"In the first game, at the end, they won the game and they started to celebrate. It was too early for them and, for us, it was like fuel to come here and to prove that we have enough time (to turn it around) and we came here to compete and win. It was good for us. And now it's time to put our minds in the next game because it's very important for us."
Pereira named an under-strength line-up in Denmark, with Sunday’s big league clash away to Tottenham in mind.
He added, “We are in a position where we need to balance the energy of the players with both competitions. But when I said before the game we were coming here to compete and to win the game, it was my feeling since the first minute.”