Premier League release statement following highly controversial moment during Brentford vs Aston Villa

Mikkel Damsgaard was controversially denied a superb volleyed goal to give Brentford a 2-0 lead against Aston Villa, prompting a furious reaction from the hosts.

Damsgaard, a Denmark international, thumped the ball into the net off the underside of the crossbar to give Brentford what would have been a two-goal advantage on the stroke of half time. Referee Tony Harrington intervened, however, with central defender Nathan Collins punished for bumping into Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. VAR then confirmed the referee’s call.

As replays showed, it became increasingly apparent that Collins had probably jumped for the ball fairly and that Martinez had perhaps gone down easily, so it was a surprise that VAR didn’t take a closer look. If anything, Martinez accidentally tripping into teammate Morgan Rogers may have affected his balance before Collins’ follow-through knocked him to the ground.

That’s not how the officials saw it, though, with a surprisingly quick VAR check confirming the referee’s original decision. Normally, when looking at contentious goalscoring actions, VAR have to take several looks. On this occasion, the check was over within 30 seconds and Brentford were shocked to lose out on a second goal. Villa, meanwhile, were very fortunate – or at least that was the widespread view in the press box.

Premier League release statement after Damsgaard disallowed goal

In an attempt to explain the decision, which caused a stir in all four corners of the Gtech Community Stadium, the Premier League’s Match Centre account on X (formerly Twitter) wrote: “The referee’s call of no goal following a foul by Collins on Martínez was checked and confirmed by VAR - with it deemed that Collins carelessly challenged the goalkeeper.”

As much as transparency is appreciated by all involved, the explanation still prompts questions in this scenario. Collins being described to ‘carelessly challenge the goalkeeper’ is surely in itself up to interpretation. And the fact that Rogers knocked into Martinez wasn’t even considered.

As it turned out, the disallowed goal didn’t matter as Dango Ouattara’s 12th-minute strike was enough to earn the Bees all three points. Nonetheless, it’s bound to be spoken about more over the weekend and Brentford boss Keith Andrews and Villa manager Unai Emery will no doubt be asked for their reactions in the post-match press conference.

The pair’s comments, as well as the overall reaction to the game, will be published in due course.