Nottingham Forest of England right-back, Ola Aina is relishing what he termed an ‘unbelievably amazing’ run for his club in the English Premier League and their stunning surge into the English FA Cup semi-finals.
Sports247 reports that Aina was on for the duration this Saturday, while Taiwo Awoniyi started but was replaced in the second half, as Forest beat their hosts, Brighton via penalties, following a goalless stalemate after extra time, in the FA Cup’s quarter-finals.
READ ALSO: Distinction Gate College Aims For Several Major Surprises At MTN Athletics Championship
The result was a reflection of recent heroics being pulled off by Forest, who were almost relegated two seasons ago, but are currently hogging third place in the EPL and thinking of playing next season in the UEFA Champions League.
Heading into the resumption of league action on Tuesday, when they will host Manchester United, Forest stand on 54 points, behind Arsenal (58) and Liverpool (70), but ahead of Chelsea (49) and Manchester City (48), which Aina says makes everyone at the City Ground enthusiastic about their chances of returning to the continental glitter the club enjoyed as European Cup winners in 1979 and 1980.
The former player of Chelsea, Fulham and Hull City in England, as well as Torino in Italy, stated, “As a team and as a club, we’ve been working hard. That’s as much as you would see us joking and laughing a lot; but people are putting in the work as well. So, hopefully, we can achieve this target.
“I can’t lie, though, after the Liverpool game, people were shocked, and we also marvelled among ourselves. We wondered and asked each other, ‘You guys have done this?’ We were looking at one another and reckoned that we can now go anywhere and do something big.”
The vastly improved defender, who was born in England and played for them at the youth level before switching allegiance in 2018 to star for Nigeria, admitted he is awed by what his team has been able to achieve this season and concluded with a prayer that God will keep them within the UCL qualification range till the last kick of the season.
“Before this season, if I am going to be honest, I never thought we could be where we are. Personally, I see that we are now third as a massive jump from where we were last season and the one before it; but I knew we were going to improve.
“We finished 17th last season, but I knew with the players we had and the manager having a full pre-season with us, we were going to improve. So, we’re just thinking big, and, hopefully, we’ll get it. Insha Allah,” Aina expressed with an optimistic projection.
