Nottingham Forest’s European dream took a dramatic turn at the City Ground as a 2-2 draw with fierce rivals Leicester ended not only with dropped points, but a furious on-pitch confrontation between owner Evangelos Marinakis and head coach Nuno Espirito Santo.
It was supposed to be a celebratory afternoon in Nottingham. A guaranteed return to European football after three decades should have been the headline. Instead, the final whistle was drowned out by tension, frustration and one very public showdown.
Marinakis, visibly incensed, stormed onto the pitch and exchanged heated words with Nuno. The Greek owner, who also controls Olympiakos, gestured angrily, highlighting the growing cracks within a club once flying high. Forest had led twice in the match, but their vulnerability in the dying minutes proved costly.
Chris Wood’s milestone 20th goal of the campaign had set Forest on course, after Morgan Gibbs-White’s equaliser had answered Conor Coady’s early strike. But a late collapse and Facundo Buonanotte’s leveller left the home crowd seething. A Champions League place, once seemingly nailed on, now feels painfully out of reach.
Post-match, Nuno revealed confusion behind the scenes. “It all comes from bad communication between departments,” he said, referring to a substitution issue that left Forest down to ten men. “We are tired. We are battered… I have young boys who made a big effort. This is what I’ll take home.”
Forest’s fall has been sharp. One win in six has seen them tumble from third to seventh in just a month. Marinakis, who stepped back from daily control to avoid UEFA dual-ownership conflicts, has never been shy about expressing displeasure, publicly doing so after a loss to Liverpool in 2024 as well.
Now, with Champions League qualification slipping away, Forest’s in-fighting threatens to overshadow what should be a season of progress. The passion remains palpable but it’s beginning to boil over.
