The injury suffered by Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi "would never have happened" had the assistant referee raised their flag earlier, says team-mate Ola Aina.
Awoniyi, 27, was woken from an induced coma on Wednesday after surgery to repair a serious abdominal injury.
The Nigerian was taken to hospital on Monday, having collided with a post while attempting to get on the end of a cross from winger Anthony Elanga in the closing stages of Sunday's 2-2 Premier League draw against Leicester City on Sunday.
Elanga was offside in the build-up to the incident but the assistant referee did not raise their flag until the play was completed because of an offside protocol introduced in 2020.
"Anthony was miles offside. The whole world could see and so could I from where I was," defender Aina told the Mail.
"You think 'offside' straight away. Surely you could just lift the flag up?
"None of this would have happened to 'T' if the flag had just gone up, would it?"
It's horrible seeing someone you are close with go through something like this, but I pray to God everything goes to plan and goes well and that we will be hearing from him soon," Aina said.
Awoniyi received lengthy medical attention on the pitch after the collision and appeared to inform medics that he could continue.
It soon became clear that he was still feeling the effects of the collision, but manager Nuno Espirito Santo had used all his substitutes.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis came on to the pitch after the game to express his concern to Nuno over how Awoniyi's injury was handled.
Forest are set to open an internal review into the episode and establish why Awoniyi was allowed to continue playing.
A statement released by Forest on Tuesday referred to a "shared frustration between all of us that the medical team should never have allowed the player to continue".
The incident has raised questions about the offside law.
