Unai Emery Slams Referee's 'Interpretation' After Aston Villa Denied Win Over Juventus

Unai Emery vented his frustration over the decision that denied Aston Villa a last-minute victory over Juventus. The Villa boss argued that most referees would have allowed the contact made by defender Diego Carlos, which match official Gil Manzano deemed a foul. Morgan Rogers capitalized on the spill from Michele Di Gregorio following Youri Tielemans' late free-kick, pouncing on the loose ball to score what he thought was the winner.

That moment, which would have secured a dramatic victory for Villa, was ruled out. Emery described the decision as "very soft" and believed that, in 80 percent of cases, a goal would have been awarded.

He said: “I’m very happy. We dominated the match. With the last action, it is the interpretation of the referee. In England, 80 per cent of those is given as a goal and it is not a foul. It’s very soft. We have to accept it.

"The last action is clear. It's the interpretation of the referee. For me it was harsh. In England, I know it's not a foul usually, because it was a very soft contact. But in Europe, it could be foul."

The draw extended Aston Villa’s winless run to seven matches across all competitions, as they struggled to break down Juventus. Their best chance came in the 70th minute, when John McGinn’s sidefoot effort was cleared off the line by Manuel Locatelli.

Emery added: “We were closer than them to winning the match. They are very difficult to beat but we created a plan. There weren’t many clear chances for either team. It was a tight match for both but, overall, I am happy with the picture in the Champions League.

"We still have the possibility of finishing in the top eight. We played a serious match. We played trying to avoid the mistakes we made from the last matches. We were playing better and I think we more or less deserved to win the match than them."

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Unai Emery was full of praise for Emi Martinez’s remarkable 66th-minute save from Francisco Conceicao. The winger powered a header toward goal, but the Argentine goalkeeper managed to claw it to safety by mere millimetres.

Emery commented: “There’s no room for interpretation here. The line is clear, and it’s definitely not a goal. It was a fantastic save.”

Striker Ollie Watkins also voiced his confusion over the disallowed goal, telling TNT Sports: "I think it was soft. Maybe in the Premier League, it's given as a goal. But in Europe, goalkeepers get a lot more protection. It’s just one of those things.

"I thought we scored. But to be fair, this game had a 0-0 written all over it. Obviously, I have to be careful talking about the referee, but it's different in this competition. We are used to it now. Sometimes it goes against you and sometimes it goes in your favour."

"It's a positive result. The fans want to see a lot of goals and we do ourselves too, but the most important thing was that we didn't lose tonight. Juventus are a massive team and they played well. We kept them out and now we move onto the weekend."