Unai Emery spoke with the press after Aston Villa's defeat at Manchester United
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Aston Villa manager Unai Emery
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery(Image: Getty Images)
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery sat down with the media after his side's 2-0 defeat at Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Here's every word Emery said in his post-match press conference...
What did you make of the controversial decision to rule out Morgan Rogers’ goal?
“Today we can speak about the season, we can speak about the 90 minutes and the key moment. The key moment was Morgan Rogers’ goal and how the referee in that moment decided this action.
“He whistled. He needed to have it under his control, waiting for VAR. I believe in VAR. I spoke with the referee and he knows his mistake.
“We make mistakes every day and so do I, my players and the referees. We have to accept it. I believe in VAR.
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“I think we have very good referees in the Premier League. It was a key moment.
“Through it we could have got a Champions League position, but we didn’t deserve it after the first half we had.”
Did the referee apologise?
“It is not necessary. He knows. He knows immediately that he made a mistake.”
Should the referee appointed have had more experience?
“Every team, we have some referees who make mistakes during the season. I believe in the referees. I believe in VAR and I accept it sometimes when they are making mistakes.”
What did you make of the first-half performance?
“So, so disappointed how we played for 30 minutes. We got better. After it, we felt better on the field and started to get chances to dominate and to get into their box.
“When we got better, Martinez was sent off. I accepted it. After it, we needed to be resilient and believe. We had to be strong, keeping a good result and then trying to get more offensively.
“The action of Morgan was the key moment. After they scored, we were trying to push in the last 10 minutes to draw the match.
“Overall, I can analyse the season we did. We achieved the objective, being in Europe. This is the third year in a row in Europe and we want to enjoy it.”
What difference does qualifying for the Europa League instead of the Champions League make?
“To be in Europe is the most important thing, then continue our process. Being in the Champions League is better, but the Europa League is something that two and a half years ago, to achieve it is still fantastic.
“The Premier League is very difficult. The first part of the season we weren’t performing well. We lost opportunities over the season to get more consistency. We got 66 points, which is fantastic. We want to be ambitious to increase more and more.
“The club is working in this direction and we are trying to be consistent in our process. Being in the Champions League is better because we have more money and that is important, but in the Europa League, we can feel happy and comfortable.
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“We can add next season another way for a trophy and another way to share with our supporters good moments. We played in the quarter-finals this season and the semi-final in Europe last season.”
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