Unai Emery condemns 'confusing' moment from Aston Villa 0-0 Juventus

Villa had to settle for a point on Wednesday night, drawing 0-0 with Juventus to move up to ninth in the UEFA Champions League standings.

It was a far from convincing performance from the Villans at Villa Park but Rogers thought he’d secured a smash and grab win nonetheless, finding the net in the 94th minute. All those in claret and blue celebrated frantically as referee Jesus Gil Manzano pointed to the centre circle - seemingly indicating a goal - but the reality was regrettably disparate.

Manzano was instead signalling a foul from Villa centre-back Diego Carlos on Juve goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio, keeping the score at 0-0. There was no communication for the supporters nor the press as everyone inside the ground discussed what on earth was going on. A goal or not, clarity surely should’ve been a must.

Emery, as puzzled as everyone else, admitted in the post-match press conference that even he wasn’t sure what went down – but he’s not arguing the decision.

“Everybody will know, in England the interpretation is different. The England referees, when actions like that the interpretation is a clear no foul but in Europe that interpretation is different,” Emery said.

“They have to be working to get the same decision when some action like that is coming, maybe yes, I don’t know exactly why but we knew before in the Premier League that it is different.

“In Europe for example we are not doing block like in England and we are not doing in front of the goalkeeper in offensive corners the same situations like in England. When the action happened, I was thinking here in Europe it’s a foul. In England not, but in Europe I have to accept it.

“At first, I thought the referee gave us a goal. In cases like that, it's confusing because he has to wait for VAR. I don't know what happened but I think so,” Emery continued.

It’s not the first time this season Villa have controversially been denied a goal in the Champions League as Jhon Duran saw a beautiful strike ruled out against Young Boys. On that occasion, Villa saw their goal chalked out for a foul that occurred over 30 seconds before the ball struck the net.

Emery and all associated with the club will be hoping Rogers’ denied goal won’t have an impact on Villa’s progression in the Champions League, but it undeniably makes the task of finishing in the top eight trickier. The next test in the competition comes away at Red Bull Leipzig, on December 10.