Taiwo Awoniyi admitted he felt 'emotional' coming up against former side Liverpool - but managed to put aside any feelings to score Nottingham Forest's winner.
The Nigerian striker netted the only goal of the game at the City Ground to end Liverpool's three-game winning run and put a stop to recent momentum. Despite being far from their free-flowing best, the Reds created more than enough chances to take something back from Nottinghamshire, but rued missed golden opportunities from set-pieces to send Jurgen Klopp's side home with nothing.
To add insult to injury, it was a former Liverpool player who condemned them to defeat, with Awoniyi causing problems for Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk. The 25-year-old topped off an bright performance in the 55th-minute, stabbing home a rebound from his own shot for the eventual winner.
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And speaking shortly after the final whistle, Awoniyi admitted he felt 'emotional' to come up against his former side.
“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. “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's arrival at Anfield came just months before Klopp, with the striker signed for just £400,000 before being immediately loaned out to Eintracht Frankfurt. Spells in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany followed before he secured a permanent move to Union Berlin in 2021 - all without making a single appearance for his parent club.
Forest picked him up as part of their extraordinary post-promotion recruitment drive this summer. And with a string of solid performances culminating in today's winner, the former Red can be more than happy with how things panned out.
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