Unai Emery Fumes After Aston Villa Draw With Manchester United
Unai Emery lost his temper with a reporter after Aston Villa's draw with Manchester United, explaining why his players walked off during a late VAR check.
Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery cut a frustrated figure in his post-match press conference after his side were held to a draw by Manchester United, with most of the questions focusing on the chaotic closing moments of the game.
The main talking point was the Villa squad heading off the pitch while a VAR review was still in progress, before the match had officially been brought to an end. A reporter asked the Spaniard whether emotions had got the better of his team.
Emery: "The game was over"
Emery insisted that timing was the whole issue. According to the Villa boss, six minutes of stoppage time had been added and United found the net in the 96th minute, so in his eyes the contest was effectively finished at that point.
When the journalist followed up by asking whether he felt United's second goal was unfair, Emery was quick to shut that interpretation down. He repeated "no" several times and urged the reporter to listen carefully, explaining that his team had restarted play from the centre circle at roughly 96 minutes and 30 seconds, which for him meant time was already up. The Spanish coach also admitted his English is not perfect, but said the point he was making should be obvious.
A tense ending for Villa
The heated exchange underlines how unhappy Emery and his players were with the way the final stages were managed. Notably, the Villa manager did not question the validity of the goal itself; his complaint was about how long the match was allowed to run.
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