Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring a goal, which is later disallowed after a VAR Review, against Juventus. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Former Aston Villa striker turned pundit, Stan Collymore, was left raging after a last-kick-of-the-match winner against Juventus was chalked off for a foul on the goalkeeper.
Unai Emery’s side have done well in the Champions League this season, and had the officials not cancelled the goal after a VAR review, the Villains would’ve been looking at another famous European scalp.
Villa denied by “terrible decision” says Collymore
The club are really going places under the Spaniard’s tutelage and have already submitted a bid for one Barcelona ace.
Douglas Luiz, who signed for Juve but has struggled in Serie A, could even make a return to Villa Park if the stars align.
On the night the Brazilian’s new club were lucky to come away with a point, and Collymore was incandescant.
“I think it was a more pragmatic approach from Aston Villa for their game against Juventus, defending well in a low block after recent defensive aberrations, just to give themselves a little bit more stability and not get done in behind,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring a goal
Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring a goal against Juventus, which is later disallowed after a VAR Review. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“They were a little bit nervy and edgy first off, but in the second half they came out and they were more adventurous.
“To be honest, at the end of the game, they were on the wrong end of a terrible decision. The ball was dropped by Juve’s goalkeeper and, with the last kick of the game, Morgan Rogers scores. It should have stood because it was really soft from the officials. Arguably, that gets given in the Premier League but not in the Champions League.”
It wasn’t just Villa who were the Premier League’s representatives in the premier European competition this week.
Pep Guardiola has his methods questioned by ex-Liverpool ace – READ MORE!
Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal all played, and to varying degrees of success.
“Manchester City are just in the middle of a massive rut and need to get a clean sheet and back on track otherwise they’re going to be left behind in the Premier League and, potentially, not qualify for those top eight positions in the Champions League,” Collymore added.
“After all of the newspaper chatter about Mo Salah, it’s nice that other Liverpool players were weighing in to help keep them top of the group in the Champions League by a couple of points. Cody Gakpo showed his importance in another absolutely sensational five-star performance from Liverpool.
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“[…] I don’t think anybody expected Arsenal to go to Lisbon and score as freely as they did. It was a really good overall performance, which should kick-start some life back into their Premier League campaign and add some belief that they can go on and do effectively what the teams have tried to do over Manchester City in recent seasons, which is clawing back a points gap.
“With that performance and that score line against Sporting, it’s a point in the season where Mikel Arteta can say ‘this is what we can do against a team when we’re on form, now let’s take that into the Premier League.’”