Seriously injured Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi is “recovering well”, according to teammate Ola Aina.
Awoniyi is said to have been woken from an induced coma after having surgery on an abdominal injury sustained in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Leicester City. The Nigeria international had collided with a post as he attempted to get on the end of an Anthony Elanga cross late on in the match at the City Ground.
The forward received treatment immediately after the incident before returning to the pitch for the final minutes against the Foxes. He was taken to hospital on Monday and underwent surgery, then was placed into an induced coma before undergoing another operation on Wednesday. It is understood he was woken from the induced coma on Wednesday evening.
“I have sent him a message of course. The whole team has,” Aina told the Daily Mail. “I have heard he is recovering well so hopefully we will hear from him soon.
“I knew he had hurt himself at the time but just didn’t realise it was to that extent. I only really heard when everyone was sending messages on our players group chat.
“This is our teammate and brother and someone we spend most of the year with day in, day out. It affects everybody in some sort of way. All we can do is show our support and hopefully everything goes well for him now.”
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo had been given the thumbs up by the Reds’ medical team for Awoniyi to continue playing against Leicester. Club owner Evangelos Marinakis was unhappy about the situation, calling it a “misjudgement” from the medical staff in a statement on Sunday night.
“I didn’t even know what happened at the time and I didn’t realise how serious it was,” Aina said. “When I saw him come back on I thought, ‘He will run it off’.
“I thought it was one of those things. I know from my experience that when I get hurt I think I can come back on. You don’t want to stop.”
Awoniyi’s injury arguably could have been avoided. Elanga was clearly offside when he ran on to the ball before crossing for the front man, but the assistant referee’s flag was not raised until the passage of play was completed - as per the rules.
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“Anthony was miles offside,” Aina said. “The whole world could see and so could I from where I was.
“You think ‘offside’ straight away. Surely you could just lift the flag up? Personally I liked how it was back in the day when for offside they just put it up straight away. A simple decision and get on with the game.
“Having to see it out and then just see this happen… well none of this would have happened to ‘T’ if the flag had just gone up would it? I mean…”
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