Taiwo Awoniyi suffered a nasty injury during Nottingham Forest’s draw with Leicester, with owner Evangelos Marinakis furious that he was put back onto the pitch after the incident
Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi had urgent surgery on Monday night after his sickening injury at the weekend. The Forest striker collided with the post in the closing stages of their 2-2 draw with local rivals Leicester City.
Awoniyi was down for several minutes after the scary clash and attempted to play on before being withdrawn minutes later. And it was later determined he would need to go under the knife due to the extent of his abdominal injuries.
The Press Association report that surgery was deemed the best option for the Nigeria international, whose injuries are not understood be life threatening. There was further frustration for Forest with the incident occurring after the assistant referee kept their flag down despite Anthony Elanga being clearly offside.
Awoniyi’s injury was also the source of owner Evangelos Marinakis’ headline-grabbing intervention after the final whistle. Following the disappointing draw, Marinakis stormed onto the City Ground pitch and was seen remonstrating with manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
He was quickly condemned for the moment, before releasing a statement explaining why he had made the trip onto the playing surface. It read: “Today is a day for celebration, because after 30 years Nottingham Forest is now guaranteed to be competing on the European stage once again – a promise I made to our supporters when we achieved promotion!
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“With two more games to go in the Premier League, we must keep believing and keep dreaming, right to the final kick in the final game. We are extremely proud and close to Nuno and the team, and we must all celebrate the historic achievements of this season.
“Everybody – coaching staff, players, supporters and including myself – we were frustrated around the injury of Taiwo and the medical staff’s misjudgment on Taiwo’s ability to continue the game.
“This is natural, this is a demonstration of the passion we feel for our club. Let’s all be grateful, passionate and keep on dreaming!”
Nuno apologised for his part in the situation and confirmed his anger was because of Awoniyi’s injury. He told Match of the Day: “Yes, it was because of that [Awoniyi’s injury]. It was a misunderstanding, a miscommunication. I’m sorry, I cannot go much further.
“It’s based on emotions, you cannot make a big deal out of it. It happens and it will happen again. With the emotions today, it’s understandable.”
Forest looked set to put themselves back in the top five after Morgan Gibbs-White and Chris Wood had scored to complete Sunday’s turnaround against local rivals Leicester. But Brighton loanee Facundo Buonanotte netted a sensational solo goal to seal a share of the points.
It leaves Forest seventh in the table and a point off of the Champions League places heading into the final two games of the season. They take on West Ham next weekend ahead of a potentially decisive showdown with Chelsea on the final day.
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