Nuno Espirito Santo explains reason for Marinakis confrontation and makes bleak prediction

Nuno Espirito Santo explains reason for Marinakis confrontation and makes bleak prediction

Nuno Espirito Santo has opened up about his on-field altercation with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, predicting that similar incidents could occur in the future.

Marinakis stormed the pitch and confronted Nuno after Forest’s Champions League hopes were dashed by a 2-2 draw against Leicester City on Sunday.

This draw extended Forest’s winless streak to four matches across all competitions, a run that has seen them eliminated from the FA Cup in the semi-finals and slip out of the Premier League’s top six.

After dropping two more points to a Leicester side already relegated, Marinakis expressed his frustration to Nuno in front of the home crowd.

Once the dust settled, Nuno explained that Marinakis’ anger stemmed from his decision not to substitute Taiwo Awoniyi, who had been injured late in the match after colliding with the post in the 87th minute.

Despite medical staff clearing Awoniyi to continue, Nuno opted to replace Jota Silva with Elliot Anderson instead.

However, it quickly became evident that Awoniyi was struggling to move freely, and Forest couldn’t find a winner.

“Football is full of emotions,” Nuno told BBC’s Match of the Day. “There were over 30,000 people in the stadium with their own emotions.

After the Awoniyi situation, we were down to 10 men due to a misunderstanding. It’s difficult to control emotions when the expectations were so high on a day like this.”

Addressing his confrontation with Marinakis, Nuno added, “It was due to the Awoniyi situation—just a misunderstanding, a miscommunication.

I can’t go much deeper into it. It was based on emotions, and you can’t make a big deal out of it.”

Nuno didn’t harshly criticize the Forest owner and acknowledged that similar incidents might happen again in the future.

“It happens, and it will happen again,” he said. “Given the emotions of the day, it’s understandable.”

Sky Sports pundit and Manchester United legend Gary Neville, however, was livid with Marinakis, posting on X: “Scandalous from that Forest owner.

Nuno should go and negotiate his exit tonight with him! The Forest fans, players, and manager do not deserve that.”

Despite starting the season as relegation favorites, Forest has now secured European football for next season with two games still to play.