Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis storms pitch and rages at Nuno Espirito Santo | Football | Sport
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was involved in an extraordinary confrontation with Nuno Espirito Santo after the final whistle against Leicester City. The bizarre exchange took place after the Reds were denied victory against their local rivals, who snatched a dramatic draw. Conor Coady opened the scoring for the Foxes early on before Morgan Gibbs-White levelled up just nine minutes later.
Chris Wood headed home in the second half to give Forest a slender lead but Leicester fought back and eventually found a decisive equaliser. Facundo Buonanotte danced around several opponents before finding the bottom corner in the closing stages, ensuring the spoils were shared. While it was a bitter blow for Forest, the result was enough to confirm European football for next season.
After the final whistle, Nuno was angrily confronted by Marinakis in a baffling exchange which took place in full view of the TV cameras. Marinakis stormed onto the pitch before appearing to berate his manager while throwing his arms around in frustration.
Nuno looked perplexed by what was happening and was visibly annoyed as he attempted to diffuse the situation. It ended with Marinakis turning his back on the Portuguese head coach and walking away from the scene.
Jamie Carragher, who was covering the match on Sky Sports, was not impressed with Marinakis’ conduct and urged the Greek billionaire to ‘get off the pitch’. Gary Neville, meanwhile, offered a scathing verdict before Liverpool‘s game against Arsenal.
Speaking ahead of kick-off at Anfield, he said: “I feel compelled to mention what has just been going on with the Forest owner on the pitch at the City Ground, which was absolutely scandalous. If I was Nuno I’d be having very strong words with him.
“That is an absolute scandal. He’s just qualified for a European competition, and where that club has been, remonstrating like that on the pitch in front of their own fans… it’s an absolute joke.”
Neville later doubled down on his comments on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “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.”
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