by Aston Villa boss Unai Emery described the decision to rule out his side’s late goal in the Champions League tie against Juventus as “very soft” and called for consistency from the European referees.
Morgan Rogers looked to have given Emery’s side another famous victory when he headed home a loose ball in added time, but referee Jesus Gil Manzano ruled that Diego Carlos had fouled the goalkeeper. Juve Michele Di Gregorio and the goal was scored.
The contact appeared minimal but VAR did not intervene and Villa had to settle for a point in a 0-0 draw.
“With the last action, it’s the referee’s interpretation,” said the Spaniard.
“In England, 80% of them score a goal and it’s not a mistake. It’s very sweet.
“But in Europe it could be a mistake. We must accept.
“Everyone will know, in England the interpretation is different. English referees, when actions like that, the interpretation is clearly faultless, but in Europe this interpretation is different.
“They have to work to get the same decision when something like this happens. I don’t know exactly why but we knew before in the Premier League that it was different.
“In Europe for example, we don’t do blocking like in England and we don’t do in front of the goalkeeper in offensive corners the same situations as in England.
“When the action happened, I thought that here in Europe it was a mistake. In England no, but in Europe I have to accept it.
“At first I thought the referee had given us a goal. In cases like that, it’s confusing because he has to wait for the VAR. I don’t know what happened but I think so (the referee changed his mind with VAR).”
It was a disappointment for Villa, who remain unbeaten at home in their maiden Champions League campaign and are still in contention to automatically qualify for the knockout stages.
“We were facing a favorite to make the top eight and generally a contender for victory in this competition,” Emery added.
“We are a team that has not played for a long time in Europe and the Champions League and this year is very important.
“We wanted to play competitively and we are on the right track. Today, taking a point is very good, we wanted to win but we wanted to avoid some mistakes that we made in previous matches.
“We have 10 points and we are happy.”
Before the match, Emery considered Juventus one of the “best teams in the world, historically and today”, but they were an Italian team to the bone.
Only 14 outfield players made the trip from Turin, including striker Dusan Vlahovic among those who stayed behind.
Juve boss Thiago Motta, whose side are 19th but still in contention to reach the top eight, said: “There are only three games left to qualify. Next at home against Man City, then Bruges, then Benfica.
“One at a time, as we always did with the objective of qualifying for the next round.
“At the end of the day, we will try to achieve our goal of advancing to the next round.”
