‘You could have just lift the flag up’ - Ola Aina blames Premier League officiating for Awoniyi's injury

Aina believes Massey-Ellis erred by not flagging Anthony Elanga offside prior to a play that resulted in a significant abdominal injury for Taiwo Awoniyi.

Awoniyi suffered an injury during Nottingham Forest's 2-2 draw against Leicester City on Sunday. 

The injury occurred when Awoniyi collided with the goalpost while trying to meet a cross from Anthony Elanga, who seemed to be in an offside position.

The striker suffered a ruptured intestine in the collision, necessitating emergency surgery and a medically induced coma to facilitate his recovery.

Aina, in a statement to Daily Mail, conveyed her heartbreak and frustration regarding the event that led to his friend's injury

He said, "This is our teammate and brother and someone we spend most of the year with. It affects everybody in some sort of way. All we can do is show our support and hopefully everything goes well for him now.

“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. I have sent him messages. We all have.”

Aina directly criticised the refereeing, expressing concern about the impact of delayed offside decisions.

He continued, "Anthony 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’ if the flag had just gone up, would it?"

The team, including Aina, are united in support of Awoniyi, whose recovery is their main focus as they pursue qualification for the UEFA Champions League.