SUPER Eagles and Nottingham Forest forward Taiwo Awoniyi has woken from an induced coma after having surgery to repair a serious abdominal injury.
Awoniyi was taken to hospital on Monday, having collided with a goalpost in the closing stages of the 2-2 draw against Leicester City on Sunday.
BBC Sport understands Awoniyi sustained a ruptured intestine in the incident.
Having had the first part of the surgery on Monday, the striker spent Tuesday in an induced coma as medical staff monitored his progress as part of the procedure.
Awoniyi had the second stage of the operation, including closing the wound, on Wednesday.
He was subsequently woken from the induced coma in the early evening.
Forest are set to open an internal review into the episode.
Awoniyi received lengthy medical attention on the pitch after the collision, and he appeared to inform medics that he could continue.
It soon became clear he was still feeling the effects of the collision, but he remained on the field. By that stage, head coach Nuno Espirito Santo had fielded his allocation of substitutes.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis came on to the pitch after the game to express his concern to Espirito Santo over how Awoniyi’s injury was handled.
This was amid fears regarding the forward’s health as TV footage clearly showed the Nigerian player was uncomfortable.
It is understood the club will seek to establish the facts around why Awoniyi was allowed back on to the field of play.
There was a clear focus on the club’s medical team in a statement released by Forest in confirming Awoniyi’s surgery on Tuesday, citing a “shared frustration between all of us that the medical team should never have allowed the player to continue”.
Speaking to BBC Sport, consultant colorectal surgeon Professor Gillian Tierney said injuries similar to the one suffered by Awoniyi can be fatal.
“The injury is really serious. It is potentially life-threatening,” said Tierney.
“It is very easy to miss at the point of contact and can take hours to diagnose.
“In a hospital setting we would send a patient for a CT scan which could take up to 10 hours.
“If it occurred to an athlete who was super fit, very muscular and was running on adrenaline then I think it would be extremely understandable to miss it. Fluid leaking from the intestine would not be easy to diagnose straight away.
“Surgery is usually required and the stomach would be opened up. The mortality stat is 9%. So if an athlete – who went through the procedure – was really fit, they would stand a good chance of being OK.
“It would be different if the operation occurred for an 80-year-old, who has other health issues.”
Mr Harpaul Flora, consultant vascular and general surgeon at The London Clinic, said ruptured intestines are “a pretty rare injury”.
He added: “It’s either a compression of the abdominal wall which has led to tearing and liquid seeping out – or the tear of an artery.
“Neither of those would be able to be diagnosed without a scan, there may have been bruising.
“It can be life-threatening. If it wasn’t treated by a hospital it can give you an infection. It could then lead to sepsis, which is a life-threatening consequence.”