Nottingham Forest head coach reveals why Ola Aina didn’t feature in their clash against Exeter

Nottingham Forest’s head coach, Nuno Espirito Santo, has revealed the reason Super Eagles defender, Ola Aina, didn’t feature in his side’s FA Cup victory against Exeter last night, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 28-year-old defender has played in every English Premier League game for the Reds this season, scoring two goals and providing one assist, but wasn’t even on the bench for their FA Cup game yesterday.

His national compatriot, Taiwo Awoniyi, found the back of the net in the 37th minute but had to be stretchered off later in the game after he suffered a concussion alongside a broken nose.

Premier League Anthony Elanga, Ola Aina and Callum Hudson-Odoi of Nottingham Forest celebrate after the Premier League match against Leicester City FC and at The King Power Stadium on October 25, 2024 in Leicester, England. [Photo Credit/ Imago].
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Exeter, despite being a League One side, held on to a draw and were knocked out on penalties by Forest, who benched most of their first-team players, including Ola Aina.

Their manager, Nuno, was quizzed after the game if he was sure he made the right decision to put the team’s best players on the bench. His response revealed he gave minutes to those deserving to play in the tournament.

26th December 2024 The City Ground, Nottingham, England Premier League Football, Nottingham Forest versus Tottenham Hotspur Ola Aina of Nottingham Forest applauds the home fans after the final whistle.  [Photo Credit/ Imago].
“It’s not about resting [players], it’s about how we are approaching the competition. We did the same at Luton, and we’re going to probably do the same [again] because, unfortunately, we cannot give minutes to all the players.

“So this is a reward for all the players that worked so hard, the young boys. It’s good for us. It’s not resting players. It’s taking care of all the squad. The FA Cup is very hard and just look at the draws that came. A lot of surprises will happen. We just have to do our job. It’s going to be at the City Ground [the match with Ipswich], and we’re going to be ready,” the former Tottenham Hotspur gaffer said in quotes revealed by The Sun.

Anthony Elanga (right) celebrates scoring Forest’s second against Brentford with fellow goalscorer Ola Aina (Image: PA)

Ola Aina’s contract at the City Ground runs out at the end of this season, and the club are confident they’ll keep the former Chelsea man beyond this summer.

Adefolahan Guerreiro

Adefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria.

With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience.

He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.