Emery furious at referee ‘interpretation’ that denied Villa win over Juventus

Unai Emery slammed the decision that stopped Aston Villa from securing a final victory over Juventus.

The Villa boss claimed the vast majority of referees would allow defender Diego Carlos' contact, which match official Gil Manzano called a foul. Morgan Rogers was on hand to force the ball home after Michele Di Gregorio spilled the ball from Youri Tielemans' late free-kick.

It was the last action of the evening and would have given Villa the victory. Emery labeled the ruling as 'very soft', believing a goal would have been awarded in 80 percent of cases.

He said: “I'm very happy. We dominated the match. In the final action it is the referee's interpretation. In England 80 percent of that is given as a goal and it is not a foul. It's very soft. We must accept it.

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

The stalemate made it seven without a win in all competitions for Villa, who struggled to create clear chances. The closest they came was in the 70th minute when John McGinn's side-footer was cleared off the line by Manuel Locatelli.

Emery added: “We were closer than them to winning the game. “They are very difficult to beat, but we have come up with a plan. There were few clear chances for either team. It was an exciting match for both of them, but overall I am happy with the picture in the Champions League.

“We still have the opportunity to finish in the top eight. We played a serious game. We tried to avoid the mistakes of the last games. We played better and I think we more or less deserved to win the game win over them.”

Emery praised Emi Martinez's 66th-minute save from Francisco Conceicao. The small winger headed deliberately into the goal, but saw how the Argentinian managed to bring him to safety with millimeters.

Villa's boss added: “There is no interpretation with this. The line is there and it is clearly not a goal. It was a fantastic rescue.”

Star striker Ollie Watkins was also perplexed that the goal was disallowed. He told TNT Sports: “I think it was soft. Maybe in the Premier League it's a goal. But in Europe the goalkeepers are protected a lot. It's one of them.”

“I thought we scored. But to be honest, this match was 0-0. Obviously I have to be careful when I talk about the referee, but in this competition it's different. We're used to it now. Sometimes it goes against you and sometimes it goes in your favor.”

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