“It was an emotional game for me” – Taiwo Awoniyi speaks on helping Nottingham Forest defeat his former club Liverpool

Super Eagles star, Taiwo Awoniyi who scored Nottingham Forest’s winner against Liverpool in a Premier League match on Saturday, has said that it was an emotional game for him.

Awoniyi netted the only goal of the game in the early kick-off as Forest moved off the bottom of the Premier League with a 1-0 win at the City Ground.

The match-winning moment against the Nigerian striker’s former club came in the 55th minute when he reacted fastest to a loose ball after Ryan Yates struck the post from the second phase of a deep free-kick.

25-year-old Taiwo Awoniyi joined Liverpool as a teenager in 2015 but spent the majority of his Anfield career out on loan in Germany and Belgium before being sold in 2021.

He joined Forest from Union Berlin for around 18 million pounds ($20 million) in June, heralding a frenzied summer of spending by the former English champions as they returned to the top flight for the first time since 1999.

Commenting on his third goal for Nottingham Forest which was against Liverpool, Taiwo Awoniyi said;

“I think this team we stick together, we’re a family, the fans are always with us, we just have to keep on going,” he told BT Sport post-match.

“I was looking forward to playing Liverpool because they signed me when I was 18 and it was an emotional game for me. For me, I think it’s a good game for my team, we had a plan to stay compact and in the end we won, I’m very happy about it.”

Awoniyi, who barely celebrated his goal, was congratulated by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.