Manchester United ended the Premier League season with a dominant win over Aston Villa but it did not come without drama.
The 2024/25 season will go down as a miserable one for Manchester United but it ended on a high note with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
After the disappointment of the Europa League final, Ruben Amorim regrouped his squad and the performance proved that they are all still fighting for him.
Amad Diallo and Christian Eriksen scored the all-important goals but United were lucky to not find themselves a goal down after a controversial incident involving goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.
Photo by Zohaib Alam - MUFC/Manchester United via Getty Images
Photo by Zohaib Alam – MUFC/Manchester United via Getty Images
Mark Clattenburg explains VAR controversy vs Aston Villa
Amorim made some bold selection decisions on Sunday afternoon, with Alejandro Garnacho dropped after his comments in Bilbao.
Additionally, Andre Onana was dropped which gave Bayindir a chance to play in what could possibly be his final match for United.
However, Bayindir nearly made an extremely costly mistake when he spilled the ball in his own box to Morgan Rogers. Villa thought they had taken the lead, but it was controversially ruled out as referee Thomas Bramall blew his whistle moments before.
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Speaking exclusively to United in Focus, former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg explained his view on the incident.
“This will create a big debate. The law is clear that the goalkeeper only needs to have two hands on the ball to be deemed to have control,” Clattenburg said.
“If the ball is then kicked out of the hands then it will be deemed as a foul. Tom Bramall decides that Morgan Rogers has kicked the ball out of Altay Bayindir’s hands but when you see the replays, this is not the case as both of his hands were not on the ball at the time Rogers kicks the ball.
“The major issue is that Bramall has blown his whistle, and this prevents the VAR from getting involved. It’s not a foul and Aston Villa will feel aggrieved.”
Premier League statement on Altay Bayindir incident vs Aston Villa
Bayindir is expected to leave United this summer and he will take pride in a clean sheet in his final match.
But it almost went horribly wrong for the Turkey international. His blushes were spared by a controversial refereeing decision and the Premier League have issued an official explanation for what happened between the officials.
#MUNAVL – 72’
The referee’s call was a free kick to Manchester United with Bayindir deemed to be in control of the ball before Rogers gained possession. The whistle was blown by the referee before the ball entered the goal, therefore the incident was not reviewable by the VAR.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) May 25, 2025
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Via the Premier League Match Centre, they posted: “The referee’s call was a free kick to Manchester United with Bayindir deemed to be in control of the ball before Rogers gained possession.
“The whistle was blown by the referee before the ball entered the goal, therefore the incident was not reviewable by the VAR.”