Ola Aina: Nottingham Forest full back speaks on life in Italy and playing against Cristiano Ronaldo

Newly signed Nottingham Forest full-back, Ola Aina has opened up on life as a footballer in Italy, and how it felt playing against five-time Ballon d’Or winner, netsport reports.

The twenty-six-year-old said goodbye to the Turin side in the summer, before joining fellow Nigerian counterparts, Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis at Nottingham and has opened up on how life was in Italy.

Aina joined Torino from Chelsea in 2018, a loan initially, before the transfer was made permanent.

Speaking on The Beautiful Game Podcast, Aina mentioned how he struggled with cultural differences initially, and how he felt alone.

The 6 ft tall full-back talked up playing against former Real Madrid player and the player with the most goals in the history of football, he heaped praises on Cristiano Ronaldo. Reminiscing on his time in Italy, Aina said;

“Turin Derby, playing against Ronaldo, it was crazy. Off the back of winning the Champions League, he just came from Madrid and he was on my side, and the first thing I thought was, Oh yeah! I’m getting pictures in this game.

“He didn’t get past me a lot. He did a step over once and I thought, Oh!, that’s sharp, but luckily my teammate was close and it wasn’t too obvious, but playing against him was wild.”

Complementing the athleticism of the thirty-eight-year-old, Aina said;