Ola Aina has spoken out against the incident that caused fellow Super Eagles star Taiwo Awoniyi to undergo emergency surgery and even be put in induced coma.
Awoniyi crashed into the post as Nottingham Forest stepped up their attack in a bid to beat Leicester City to improve their chances of playing in the UEFA Champions League next season.
Ola Aina said if an obvious offside against Forest had been called, Awoniyi’s life would not have been put in such grave danger.
“The really upsetting thing for everybody at Nottingham Forest is that, as their friend and club mate Taiwo Awoniyi lies stricken in hospital, they know that none of this needed to have happened at all,” he told The Daily Mail.
“Anthony (Elanga) was miles offside.
“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’ (Awoniyi) if the flag had just gone up would it?”
The Forest defender spoke more on Awoniyi and the reaction of the team after the incident.
“T is a very chilled guy,’ he said.
“He doesn’t like to get in the way. He goes about his own business but he can have fun as well.
“He has been in a couple of my videos but I know he doesn’t like the cameras too much so I try not to put them in his face. I respect that about him.
“I have sent him a message of course. The whole team has.
“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.
“We have a lot of things in common, me and Taiwo. Like our faith.
“But this is our team-mate and brother and someone we spend most of the year with day in day out.”
