Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi has reportedly been placed in an induced coma following urgent surgery for a serious abdominal injury sustained during Sunday’s Premier League clash against Leicester City.
The 27-year-old Nigerian forward was injured after colliding with the post while attempting to meet a cross from teammate Anthony Elanga in Forest’s 2-2 draw with Leicester. Though clearly in pain, Awoniyi played on for the final 10 minutes of the match.
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Forest confirmed on Tuesday that Awoniyi underwent surgery and is “recovering well” from what it described as a “serious abdominal injury.” However, multiple British outlets, including the BBC and Sky Sports, reported that the striker was placed in an induced coma as part of his post-surgery treatment.
When contacted by CNN, Nottingham Forest declined to expand beyond its initial statement.
Awoniyi’s injury occurred as he stretched to connect with Elanga’s cross. In doing so, he crashed into the goalpost — a move made more unfortunate as Elanga was later ruled offside, although the flag wasn’t raised until after the collision.
Despite receiving treatment on the pitch, Awoniyi insisted he was fit to continue. Forest had used all their substitutions, and the forward remained on, though visibly in discomfort.
According to Forest’s statement, the decision to keep Awoniyi on the field led to a heated exchange between club owner Evangelos Marinakis and manager Nuno Espírito Santo after the match — an incident that drew criticism and speculation online.
However, the club dismissed reports of a confrontation as “fake news.”
“The truth of the matter is there was no confrontation, with Nuno or with others, either on the pitch or inside the stadium,” Forest said. “There was only shared frustration between all of us that the medical team should never have allowed the player to continue.”
The statement also pushed back against online backlash, calling it “baseless and ill-informed outrage for the purposes of personal social media traction,” and urged pundits and former players to avoid jumping to conclusions without full context.
Awoniyi joined Forest from Union Berlin in 2022 and has scored 17 goals in 73 Premier League appearances for the club.
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