Aston Villa forward Morgan Rogers disallowed goal against Manchester United
Image Credits: Getty Images
Manchester United beat Aston Villa 2-0 today in the last game of the 2024/25 English Premier League season.
While the scoreline suggests a routine victory with minimal fuss, it was anything but.
With huge stakes on the line for Villa, the game had it all.
Firstly, Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez was sent off for a straight red card after smashing Rasmus Hojlund when the Denmark striker was through on goal.
But that wasn’t the most controversial part of the game.
With the score still 0-0 and heading into the final 15 minutes, the game’s major talking point took place.
Altay Bayindir, stepping in after Andre Onana was dropped for the game, seemingly was coming out for a routine pick up.
However, the ball bobbled in his hands and Villa forward Morgan Rogers kicked it away from him and into the empty net.
Before the ball hit the net, the referee blew his whistle.
That meant VAR could not intervene and look into incident as they can’t overturn a decision after the referee has blown.
Television replays showed that the ball was not actually in Bayindir’s control and probably should have stood.
If the goal was allowed and Villa had won the game, they would have qualified for the UEFA Champions League next season.
Instead, Manchester United took the lead a short while after and wrapped up the game thanks to a late penalty.
Needless to say, the Birmingham based club were not happy.
And it seems that this is not the end of the matter.
Aston Villa director of football operations has confirmed that the club plan to officially complain to the English Premier League about the referee in the fixture.
Sitting with manager Unai Emery in the post match press conference, he didn’t hold back.
“We are going to send a complaint,” said Vidagany.
“The complaint is not about the decision, it is about the selection of the referee – one of the most inexperienced referees in the Premier League.
“It’s not about the decision, clearly it was a mistake.
“The complaint is about the referee.
“The problem is why the international referees were not here today”.
From those comments, it seems that it wasn’t just the disallowed goal that irked the Aston Villa faithful.
It looks as though they were not happy with the overall performance of the officials.
With the club losing out on the Champions League spot to Newcastle United, it will hurt the club from both a financial and prestige position.
And if a complaint does go in, then the controversy over the fixture will likely rumble on for a short while longer.
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