Villa boss Emery fumes as Forest star Anderson escapes red card

AFP | London

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Unai Emery slammed the decision not to send off Nottingham Forest star Elliot Anderson as Aston Villa crashed to a 1-0 defeat in the Europa League semi-final first leg on Thursday.

Chris Wood’s second half penalty, awarded for a needless handball by Lucas Digne, fired Forest to a tense victory at the City Ground.

But Villa boss Emery was incensed by Forest midfielder Anderson’s escape after his ugly foul on Ollie Watkins in the first half.

“The VAR is so, so bad. It’s a clear red card, I don’t understand why the VAR is not calling the referee because it’s so clear. It’s a huge, huge mistake. VAR is responsible,” Emery said.

“The referee, fantastic, fantastic job, 10 out of 10, I appreciated how he managed the match for 90 minutes.

“But I watched it back. Wow. Huge. He could break his ankle. VAR where are you? It is your responsibility, we are professionals.

“It was so clear for everybody. He could break his ankle. It’s not fair.”

Insisting Villa can still bounce back and reach their first European final since 1982, Emery added: “After their goal the most important thing was not to lose our mind and to keep our game plan.