‘It was over Taiwo Awoniyi’: Nottingham Forest coach explains why club’s owner came on pitch

Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo has explained the reasons behind the surprise appearance of owner Evangelos Marinakis on the pitch during the club’s match on Sunday.

The Forest owner was pictured deep in conversation with his head coach following a 2-2 draw home to Leicester City which leaves Champions League qualification out of their hands and relying on results elsewhere to reach Europe’s top-tier competition for the first time in 45 years.

Speaking on the development, Santo put Marinakis’ on-pitch “frustration” down to “emotions” caused by an injury mix-up late on.

Nuno’s players sank to the ground in disappointment following their latest poor result, a 2-2 draw against lowly Leicester who had only scored twice in their previous six away games.

He revealed that the incident had centred around Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi, who remained on the pitch after colliding with the goalframe at the start of stoppage time but was clearly limping for the rest of the game.

Nuno used his final substitution break moments after the incident, but said he had been told by the club’s physio team the striker was okay to continue.

The manager told Sky Sports: “Football is emotions. It’s difficult to control, especially when we had so much expectation today (Sunday).

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“It was due to the situation. There was a confusion over the situation of Taiwo Awoniyi.

“There was frustration to play 10 minutes with a player that had so much confidence and being positive that he’s going to score.

“We made the sub, then played with one man less. That causes frustration, it’s obvious.

“When there’s a player down, you get information about them. We got information he was okay to keep going so we made a sub.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have another stoppage to change him, and he was not able to continue to help the team.

“We’re all frustrated. We felt the Leicester goal was not in the flow of the game, but we tried to then go for the winner.”

Marinakis, in a statement issued on Sunday, said “everybody – coaching staff, players, supporters and including myself” were “frustrated” over the handling of Awoniyi’s injury and the decision over whether the player should complete the match.

“This is natural, this is a demonstration of the passion we feel for our club,” the owner stated.