Aston Villa have released an official statement reacting to the controversial refereeing decision that may have cost them a place in the Champions League, and they’ve made one demand.
After suffering a devastating 2-0 loss to Manchester United on the final day of the 2024/25 Premier League season, Aston Villa narrowly missed out of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
With Chelsea also securing a shock win over Nottingham Forest, Villa fell to sixth in the Premier League table, with only goal difference splitting them and fifth-placed Newcastle United.
However, things could have been different for Unai Emery’s side after they believed that they had taken the lead through Morgan Rogers, only to discover that the goal controversially wouldn’t stand after referee Thomas Bramall had already blown the whistle.In the wake of the result, it was widely reported that Villa were considering making an official complaint about the result, and the club’s official account have now confirmed exactly what they have demanded of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).Sharing their statement on X, the Villa account criticised the decision to appoint Bramall to such a consequential fixture given his relative inexperience of refereeing games of such magnitude.
It stated: “Aston Villa can confirm the club has written to the PGMOL to raise concerns over the selection process of match officials following today’s game with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
“With such high stakes surrounding today’s fixture, the club believe a more experienced referee should have been appointed. Of the 10 referees to officiate across the Premier League today, Mr. Bramall was the 2nd least experienced.
“The decision to disallow Morgan Rogers’ goal, which would have given the club a 1-0 lead with 17 minutes remaining in the match, was a major contributing factor to the club not qualifying for the Champions League.”
The club account then claimed that VAR, which couldn’t intervene on the matter as the whistle was blown prior to the ball hitting the back of the net, should be able to correct moments such as this and demanded that this is the case in the future.
It added: “As per the standards that have been established over the course of the season, a decision to whistle early is clearly inconsistent with current refereeing guidelines.
“VAR exists to ensure that these types of situations receive the scrutiny they deserve. Unfortunately, the technology was not allowed to serve its purpose.
“Ultimately, we acknowledge that the outcome for us will not change, but we believe that it is important to address the selection methodology to ensure that high stakes matches are treated as such with regards to officiating and to ensure that the implemented VAR technology is allowed to be effective.”
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