Nottingham striker Taiwo Awoniyi’s collision with the post on Sunday had unpleasant consequences not only for his coach, but even more so for himself. Now he has even had to undergo emergency surgery.
Taiwo Awoniyi’s Premier League season has ended with a real shock. According to several English media reports, the Nottingham Forest striker had to undergo emergency surgery on his abdomen on Monday. However, the injury is not life-threatening.
Awoniyi, who once played for 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, crashed into the goalpost in the final stages of Sunday’s home game against relegated Leicester City while trying to reach a cross, as did his opponent Facundo Buonanotte. What made it particularly bitter was that Anthony Elanga, who set up the goal, was clearly offside, but the referees did not blow the whistle until the attack was over. If they had intervened earlier, the accident would not have happened in the first place.
After receiving treatment for several minutes, Awoniyi initially tried to continue playing. However, when it became clear that he was too injured to continue, coach Nuno Espirito Santo had no substitutes left. Nottingham, now down to ten men, were unable to find an answer to Leicester’s 2-2 equalizer, which had come shortly before Awoniyi’s substitution (83′).
The circumstances enraged club owner Evangelos Marinakis so much that he stormed onto the pitch from the stands to talk to Espirito Santo in front of everyone. “There was a misunderstanding between the coaching team and the medical department,” the coach admitted later.
Nottingham goes into the remaining two matchdays in seventh place, one point behind the top five – and probably without Awoniyi. The 27-year-old Nigerian international is a regular substitute under Espirito Santo, having come on 23 times in 26 Premier League games (one goal). Union signed him permanently from Liverpool FC in 2021 after a year on loan and sold him to Nottingham a year later for a new club record fee of around €20 million.
