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Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was pictured expressing his "frustration" to Nuno Espirito Santo following 2-2 draw at home to Leicester; "Football, football is emotions. It's difficult to control, especially when we had so much expectation today, " he told Sky Sports Sunday 11 May 2025 19: 27, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Nuno Espirito Santo put Evangelos Marinakis' on-pitch "frustration" down to "emotions" caused by an injury mix-up late on as Nottingham Forest dropped points at home to Leicester. The Forest owner was pictured deep in conversation with his head coach following the 2-2 draw which leaves Champions League qualification out of their hands and relying on results elsewhere to reach Europe's top-tier competition for the first time in 45 years. Nuno's players sank to the ground in disappointment following their latest poor result, a 2-2 draw against lowly Leicester who had only scored twice in their previous six away games. He revealed the incident had centred around Taiwo Awoniyi, who remained on the pitch after colliding with the goalframe at the start of stoppage time but was clearly limping for the rest of the game. Nuno used his final substitution break moments after the incident, but said he had been told by the club's physio team the striker was okay to continue. "Football is emotions. It's difficult to control, especially when we had so much expectation today, " he said when asked about the incident by Sky Sports. "It was due to the situation. There was a confusion over the situation of [Taiwo Awoniyi]. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "There was frustration to play 10 minutes with a player that had so much confidence and being positive that he's going to score. "We made the sub, then played with one man less. That causes frustration, it's obvious.
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"When there's a player down, you get information about them. We got information he was okay to keep going so we made a sub. "Unfortunately, we didn't have another stoppage to change him, and he was not able to continue to help the team. "We're all frustrated. We felt the Leicester goal was not in the flow of the game, but we tried to then go for the winner. " Marinakis released a statement saying "everybody - coaching staff, players, supporters and including myself" were "frustrated" over the handling of Awoniyi's injury and the decision over whether the player should complete the match. "This is natural, this is a demonstration of the passion we feel for our club, " he said. The Forest owner also paid tribute to securing the club's first European season in three decades, saying: "Today is a day for celebration, because after 30 years Nottingham Forest is now guaranteed to be competing on the European stage once again, a promise I made to our supporters when we achieved promotion! "With two more games to go in the Premier League, we must keep believing and keep dreaming, right to the final kick in the final game. We are extremely proud and close to Nuno and the team, and we must all celebrate the historic achievements of this season. " Having sat third, 10 points clear of sixth place at the start of April, Forest are now a point off fifth spot and have dropped to seventh, behind Chelsea, Aston Villa and Newcastle following a run of one win from seven games. The scale of their drop-off has been particularly alarming given the opposition they have faced, including home defeats to Everton and Brentford before this especially disappointing result against already-relegated Leicester. "I don't know the reason, " said Nuno. "We can easily say it's because of anxiety or nerves, but the players don't transmit that. "We feel it is about us, it was in our hands and it isn't now. We will try to manage the situation but we're not playing good. "We're not solid in defence, we don't shut teams down, and in the Premier League that is not good. "I wish I could tell you why. Our main focus is to give solutions, but we're not able to do it. That's frustrating for us. " Tom from Southampton became a millionaire for free with Super 6! Could you be the next jackpot winner? Play for free!
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