Unai Emery’s bizarre comment after Elliot Anderson and Ollie Watkins’ incident confuses fans as UEFA release statement

Unai Emery’s bizarre comment after Elliot Anderson and Ollie Watkins’ incident confuses fans as UEFA release statement

Unai Emery slams VAR for missing Elliot Anderson tackle – ‘He could break his ankle!’

Aston Villa took on Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their Europa League semi final on Thursday evening but the game was overshadowed by a controversial incident

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery let rip at VAR after it failed to spot a potential ‘ankle breaking’ challenge from Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson. The two Premier League sides came together at the City Ground on Thursday evening in their Europa League semi final.

Forest ended up winning 1-0 through a Chris Wood penalty. A controversial moment however saw midfielder Anderson avoid a red card for a tackle on Ollie Watkins – a decision that left Emery incensed.

“Fantastic, the referee, fantastic,” he said. “But the VAR is so, so bad. It’s a clear red card. I watched it and I don’t understand why the VAR is not calling the referee because it’s so, so clear. It’s a huge, huge mistake. VAR is responsible.”

The referee – fantastic, fantastic job, 10 out of 10, he did a fantastic job. I appreciated how he managed the match for 90 minutes.

“I watched it back… Wow. Huge. He could break his ankle. VAR, where are you? It is your responsibility; we are professionals, you are professionals, but you are doing very badly, because it was so clear to everybody.

“He could break his ankle. Respect the referee always, but VAR, I don’t understand. It’s not fair.”

The Spanish coach continued his rant in his post-match press conference. Emery added: “It is a huge mistake, a huge mistake, because Ollie Watkins was close to breaking his ankle. It is the VAR’s responsibility and he must give us an explanation about it because it’s crazy watching this action.

“Of course, the referee can’t watch it like me. I watched the action of Anderson with Watkins … one action like that can break his ankle.“

I’m working for 20 years as a coach and sometimes they make mistakes, [there are] always tight decisions, without VAR it was more difficult … I am 100% with VAR but we must manage VAR good and in the right way.

“One action like that doesn’t make sense. It is so, so clear. Where is the doubt? The risk is to the players. Where is VAR? Wow, crazy.”

Villa are back in action this weekend as they welcome Tottenham to Villa Park. They will then turn their attention back to their European exploits, with the second leg against Forest set to come in just under a week’s time.

READ MORE: VAR intervenes in Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa to award penalty after bizarre incident

VAR was used in the second half of Nottingham Forest’s Europa League semi-final with Aston Villa to determine whether a penalty should be awarded to the home side

A bizarre incident involving Omari Hutchinson and Lucas Digne saw VAR intervene to award Nottingham Forest a penalty in the second half of their Europa League semi-final with Aston Villa.

There seemed to be little danger when the ball went beyond the far post towards Hutchinson and Digne, with the former attempting to divert the ball back into the penalty area.

As Digne’s arms were up, the ball struck him, only for officials to rule that the ball had already gone out of play to seemingly let the Frenchman off the hook.

However, the incident was double checked by VAR – and they recommended an on-field review after determining that the whole of the ball had NOT gone out of play, leaving referee Joao Pedro Silva Pinheiro with little choice but to award a spot-kick.

Chris Wood made no mistake from 12 yards, firing home with aplomb to nudge Forest into a priceless 1-0 lead with less than 20 minutes of normal time remaining at The City Ground.

Though Villa are some 11 places higher than Forest in the Premier League, Vitor Pereira’s side have enjoyed a fine campaign in Europe and are now just one positive result away from booking their ticket to next month’s Europa League final in Istanbul.

Villa had Emi Martinez to thank for going in level at the break after he pulled off a remarkable save to thwart Igor Jesus from six-yards.

Youri Tielemans spurned a golden chance to equalise just minutes from time, blazing over from a good position after bearing down on the Forest penalty area.