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

Nuno Espirito Santo has explained his on-pitch confrontation with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and predicted 'it will happen again'. Marinakis stormed the field and had stern words with Nuno after Forest's Champions League hopes were dented by a 2-2 draw at home to Leicester City on Sunday.

The Tricky Trees have now gone four consecutive games without a win in all competitions - a run which has seen them drop out of the FA Cup at the semi-final stage, and slip out of the Premier League's top six. After dropping two more points against an already-relegated Leicester side, Marinakis vented his anger to Nuno in front of the watching crowd.

With the dust settling on a surreal affair, Nuno explained that Marinakis' anger was due to Taiwo Awoniyi not being substituted. The Forest striker was brought on late in the game and given medical treatment after colliding with the post in the 87th minute.

Medical staff deemed him fit to continue, so Nuno left him on and changed Jota Silva for Elliot Anderson instead. But it quickly became clear that Awoniyi was not able to move freely, and Forest failed to dig out a winner.

"Football is emotions," Nuno told the BBC's Match of the Day. "Today, there were more than 30,000 people in the ground with their own emotions. It was a tough moment, after the situation with [Awoniyi] we had one man less after a misunderstanding. It's difficult to control emotions when we had so much expectation on a day like this."

Delving deeper into his frosty exchange with Marinakis, Nuno explained: "It was because of that [Awoniyi situation]. It was a misunderstanding, a miscommunication. I’m sorry, I cannot go much further. It’s based on emotions, you cannot make a big deal out of it."

The Portuguese refused to come down hard on the Forest owner, and he admitted that similar incidents could happen in the future. "It happens and it will happen again," he said. "With the emotions today, it’s understandable."

Manchester United legend and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville was fuming 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 this season among the relegation candidates, Forest have now guaranteed themselves European football next term with two games to spare.