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'Offside flag would have prevented Awoniyi injury'

Nottingham Forest's Taiwo AwoniyiGetty Images

Taiwo Awoniyi has scored two goals in 32 games for Nottingham Forest this season

Sami Mokbel
Senior football correspondent

The injury suffered by Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi "would never have happened" had the assistant referee raised their flag earlier, says team-mate Ola Aina.

Awoniyi, 27, was woken from an induced coma on Wednesday after surgery to repair a serious abdominal injury.

The Nigerian was taken to hospital on Monday, having collided with a post while attempting to get on the end of a cross from winger Anthony Elanga in the closing stages of Sunday's 2-2 Premier League draw against Leicester City on Sunday.

Elanga was offside in the build-up to the incident but the assistant referee did not raise their flag until the play was completed because of an offside protocol introduced in 2020.

Despite calls for the application of the law to be changed, there is no indication that the rule will be reviewed in the aftermath of the incident.

"Anthony was miles offside. The whole world could see and so could I from where I was," defender 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">