Aston Villa chief shares Unai Emery's fury over VAR's Elliot Anderson let-off

 When Unai Emery embarked on his onslaught against the VAR officials after his side’s narrow Europa League loss at the City Ground, he was not alone.

The Aston Villa manager was furious after watching replays of Elliot Anderson’s first half challenge on Ollie Watkins, which the referee, Joao Pinheiro, deemed legal.

After clipping the ball, Anderson’s studs clearly followed through and slammed into Watkins’ ankle. But the VAR team - Tiago Martins and Andre Narciso - did not intervene.

Emery lambasted their failure to act, saying: “It is a huge mistake, a huge mistake. Ollie Watkins was close to breaking his ankle.

"The VAR has a huge responsibility and he must give us an explanation. It is crazy!

“In football I work 20 years as a coach, sometimes decisions are tight. I am 100 percent with VAR, but we must manage it good and in the right way. One action like that, there is no doubt. Where is VAR?

“The referee did a fantastic job. I was so, so feeling comfortable with how he managed the game in 90 minutes, but after watching it again, it is the VAR responsibility.

“The ref can’t watch it like me. One action like that can break his ankle. The VAR makes sense if they are fair.”

And Emery’s grievance was shared by the club’s director of football operations, Damian Vidagany, who took to social media to express his anger at the officiating. But he also used his message as a rallying call for Villa, who go into the second leg a goal down after Chris Wood’s second half penlty.

Vidagany posted: “We need to win to go to the final. At Villa Park will be our time. Match of our lives. This is not over.

“And one important question if VAR came to help football and bring justice. If VAR called the referee for the penalty, why didn’t they check at least the red card for Anderson?

“Huge mistake of VAR referee - it did not help the field ref. I am sure UEFA refereeing people would agree with us in this unfair situation. Now, time for Villa Park. Let’s do this. UTV!”

Interestingly, Villa supporters’ social media reaction to Vidagany’s comments - and to Emery’s tirade - was mixed. Some shared the fury but others were more critical of the team’s performance and suggested the management was trying to distract from a disappointing performance.

UEFA is bound to analyse Emery’s post-match remarks but is unlikely to take any action, particularly as the Villa boss was complimentary about referee Pinheiro’s overall performance. Emery’s and Vidagany’s anger was exacerbated by VAR’s intervention in the second half which told Pinheiro that Lucas Digne had handled the ball and that it had not gone out of play prior to the offence.

That gave Wood the chance to step up to the penalty spot and give Forest a narrow advantage going into next Thursday’s second leg at Villa Park.

The winners will meet either Freiburg or Sporting Braga in the final, the Portuguese side holding a 2-1 lead after the first leg in Portugal.