Aina calls for offside rule change after Awoniyi incident

Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC)/X

Super Eagles and Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina has questioned the offside law which contributed to fellow Super Eagles teammate Taiwo Awoniyi's placement into an induced coma following an abdominal injury suffered against Leicester over the weekend.

In the closing stages of Forest's 2-2 draw against Leicester City, Awoniyi sustained a major injury when he collided with the post attempting to connect with an Anthony Elanga cross. Although Elanga was offside in the buildup, the assistant referee only raised his flag after the play concluded, as per protocol.

However, the Nigerian forward finished the game despite being in significant pain and after the match he was rushed to the hospital. Updates about his condition have been slowly provided to Forest and Nigerian fans as the seriousness of the situation became apparent.

The club released a statement confirming that Awoniyi underwent emergency surgery. After briefly being placed in a medically induced coma, it seems that the surgery was successful as the striker is now recovering.

Speaking with the Daily Mail, Aina shared his surprise regarding the incident and highlighted the necessity of altering Premier League rules to prevent similar injuries.

"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 [Awoniyi] if the flag had just gone up would it?"

Assistant Referee Massey-Ellis kept her flag down, adhering to the IFAB directive. This directive allows for delaying an offside flag only in clear attacking scenarios, specifically when a player is in a goal-scoring position or has an unobstructed path to the opponent's penalty area.

The PGMOL, responsible for implementing refereeing laws in the Premier League and aligning with IFAB's VAR protocol, instructs assistant referees to raise their flag only when absolutely certain a player is offside. If there's any uncertainty, the flag should remain down.

In the aftermath of the game, Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis stormed onto the pitch and had a serious conversation with manager Nuno Espirito Santo. Forest later released a statement explaining that the owner's emotional reaction was due to seeing Awoniyi in immense pain and his frustration at the medical staff for letting him continue the game.