John McGinn scolds ref as Aston Villa miss out on Champions League after Man Utd loss | Football | Sport
John McGinn launched a scathing attack at the referee following Aston Villa’s final-day defeat away to Manchester United. The visitors were denied a goal in the second half after Thomas Bramall prematurely blew his whistle, with United almost immediately going down the opposite end and opening the scoring.
With the game locked at 0-0 midway through the second half, Altay Bayindir was adjudged to have had the ball kicked out of his hands by Morgan Rogers, who subsequently knocked it into an empty net. The goal was ruled out on the field by Bramall, but replays showed the United goalkeeper didn’t have full control of the ball. It was revealed post-match that Villa intend to submit a formal complaint to the Premier League.
A VAR check followed, but as the man in the middle had blown up before Rogers was able to score, the referee was forced to stick with his on-field decision. It sparked fury amongst the Villa players and coaching staff, whose woes were worsened when Amad Diallo opened the scoring for United moments later.
United went on to win the match 2-0, however, because of results elsewhere, had Villa taken the lead and held on, they would’ve finished inside the Champions League qualification spots. Understandably unhappy, McGinn said post-match: “Tough to take especially in the circumstances. I don’t think any of us in the dressing room felt we deserved to win… but the decision is incredible.
“I think everyone when VAR was implemented, wanted the correct decisions. They wanted it to be offside, it’s offside… I know it’s the rule, I’ve seen it before a couple of times, but it’s so hard to take, especially with the impact it has on us, as a team and a club is so big.
“So for Thomas [the referee] to blow his whistle at that points, it’s really difficult to take and handle. I don’t think anyone thought we deserved to win the game, but at that point, we’d have been 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go. It’s a really costly one.”
Villa had spent the second half with 10 men after Emiliano Martinez was sent off just before the break for a last-man challenge. Unlike the incident involving Bayindir and Rogers, there were few complaints with this one, given the Argentine shot-stopper had come steaming out of his net and flattened United attacker Rasmus Hojlund.
The West Midlands outfit will still compete in continental competition next season, but Villa, on the back of their Old Trafford loss, have been forced to settle for the Europa League.
