Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi has woken from an induced coma after he underwent surgery to repair a serious abdominal injury.
The Nigerian was brought on as a late substitute when his side faced Leicester City in the Premier League last Sunday, but after colliding with the post in the closing minutes, the forward suffered a ruptured intestine.
Despite the serious nature of the injury and footage showing the 27-year-old in discomfort, he played on for the remainder of the match, though he was later taken to hospital.
Awoniyi had the first part of the surgery on Monday and spent Tuesday in an induced coma, before the second stage of the operation was completed on Wednesday.
The striker was subsequently woken from the induced coma in the early evening after the second stage of the surgery, and Nottingham Forest will reportedly look to establish the key details around why Awoniyi was allowed back on to the field of play.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was criticised for coming onto the pitch against Leicester following the full-time whistle, but he later clarified that he only did so to express concern to manager Nuno Espirito Santo over how Awoniyi’s injury was handled.
The injury that Awoniyi suffered is extremely serious, with mortality rates even in the event of surgery standing at 9%, so it is perhaps understandable that Marinakis was deeply concerned.
Officials have faced criticism for allowing the passage of play that led up to Awoniyi’s injury to occur given Anthony Elanga was in a clear offside position in the buildup.
The rules regarding offsides state that when a clear goalscoring opportunity is likely, assistant referees must delay raising their flag until the phase of play has concluded.
While the rule would in principle prevent players from missing out on golden chances in the final third, many pundits have suggested that allowing such passages of play to develop and relying on the intervention of VAR could lead to serious injury.
Perhaps the serious nature of Awoniyi’s injury will cause football’s lawmakers to reconsider their stance on when officials should flag for offside.
