Aston Villa are lodging a formal complaint to the Premier League over the selection of ‘inexperienced’ referee Thomas Bramall for their defeat against Manchester United.
Villa missed out on qualifying for the Champions League after a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford but felt they were hard done by when their goal at 0-0 was disallowed.
Morgan Rogers poked the ball through the hands of United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir but Bramall blew the whistle before Rogers converted, meaning VAR could not overturn the decision upon review.
Villa’s Director of Football Operations Damian Vidagany, sat alongside Unai Emery in the press conference, insisted their complaint is about 35-year-old Bramall, not the decision to chalk off Rogers’ goal.
‘The complaint is about the selection of the referees, one of the most inexperienced referees for one of the most important matches of the season,’ Vidagany said.
‘The problem is why the most experienced referees were not here today.’
Morgan Rogers poked the ball through the hands of Altay Bayindir but the referee blew the whistle
Aston Villa have lodged a complaint against 35-year-old Thomas Bramall (centre)
Villa missed out on qualifying for the Champions League after a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford
Explaining the decision, the Premier League wrote in a statement: ‘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.’
To make matters worse, Amad Diallo opened the scoring just moments later, with Christian Eriksen then converting a penalty to condemn Villa to a sixth place finish.
Speaking to TNT Sports afterwards, Emery said: ‘Good evening. The TV is clear with the move but of course, we have to accept it. It was a mistake. A big mistake.
‘The match we played overall in 90 minutes with the red card and this goal disallowed, it was a key moment. but overall, they did more. But we showed resilience with one player less.
‘We could have scored one goal and it would have been a good opportunity to continue and keep the result. We didn’t perform enough today to get a good result but we could get it, in case some decision weren’t like it was.’
On whether he has talked to referee about the incident, Emery said: ‘Yes, I told him but he knows it.’
Asked whether the referee admitted it was a mistake, the Villa boss responded: ‘The next question?’
Club captain John McGinn has called for the rules to be changed after the controversy
Meanwhile, club captain John McGinn has called for the rules to be changed, but admitted that United were deserved winners on the day.
‘Tough game especially in the circumstances. I don’t think anyone in the dressing room or anyone watching the game felt we deserved to win. Manchester United deserved to win. They were the better team and were on front foot. But the decision is incredible.
‘I think everyone wanted the correct decisions when the VAR was implemented. You watch rugby, even if the referee has awarded a try and it’s wrong, its overturned. It’s so so hard to take especially when the impact it has on us, as a club and a team, is so big. Its’ really, really tough to take and handle.
;I don’t think we deserved to win but if you were 1-0 up at that point and all you need is a point to get to the Champions League, it’s costly.
‘Moving forward, the rule has to be looked at as the correct decisions were not getting made at the end of the day. I think [referee] Thomas [Bramall] knew. It probably wasn’t fair on him at that moment either.
‘The boys are gutted. But European football three years in a row, we need to hold onto that and see what next season brings.’
