Super Eagles defender Ola Aina has criticised the Premier League’s offside protocol after Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffered a serious abdominal injury in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Leicester City.
Awoniyi collided with the post late in the game while trying to connect with a cross from Anthony Elanga, who was clearly offside in the build-up. However, the assistant referee did not raise the flag until the phase of play was complete — a directive introduced by the Premier League in 2020.
Awoniyi, 27, was rushed to hospital on Monday and underwent two surgeries after being diagnosed with a ruptured intestine. He was placed in an induced coma on Tuesday and woken up on Wednesday evening after the second stage of the procedure was completed.
Reacting to the incident, Aina did not hold back.
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“Anthony was miles offside. The whole world could see and so could I from where I was,” Aina told the Mail.
“You think ‘offside’ straight away. Surely you could just lift the flag up?
“None of this would have happened to ‘T’ if the flag had just gone up, would it?”
The offside protocol in question instructs assistant referees to delay raising their flags if they believe there is a goal-scoring opportunity, in order to allow VAR to intervene if needed. Despite calls for it to be reviewed following Awoniyi’s injury, there has been no indication of any immediate changes.
Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo had already used all his substitutes when Awoniyi told medics he could continue playing after the collision. However, he later showed signs of distress, and Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis reportedly came onto the pitch post-match to question how the injury was handled.
The club has now launched an internal review.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Nottingham Forest acknowledged: “There is a shared frustration between all of us that the medical team should never have allowed the player to continue.”
Aina, visibly shaken by the ordeal, added: “It’s horrible seeing someone you are close with go through something like this, but I pray to God everything goes to plan and goes well and that we will be hearing from him soon.”
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