Villarreal boss Unai Emery blasts referee Artur Dias’ decision to award Bukayo Saka a penalty in the Europa League semifinal.
The decision left Emery furious, claims the decision was not a penalty. The former Arsenal boss Emery expresses his anger, insisted it wasn’t the right call from the official.
“The penalty is not a penalty,” Emery slams the penalty decision.
“It was a very important refereeing error and also, with VAR, you can see it,” he added.
However, Villarreal still takes a 2-1 advantage to Emirates Stadium but the manager insists they deserved better.
Emery insisted, “We deserved this victory. We had chances to score the third goal and that was our plan.”
Despite the error, Emery added, “We will play there with the same plan, to control and show our personality.”
‘We developed a plan [today] to take the victory and achieved it. It’s a victory, and it allows us to continue in the second leg. We have to go there to score a goal,” he concluded.
On the other hand, his counterpart Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta blasts his critics for his team selection against Villarreal.
“Obviously we are disappointed that we lose the game. Because it’s not the result that we wanted to take from the game,” Arteta said.
He added. “But after the story of the game, we have to take it because we are in the tie. We are alive and the circumstances that were in the game put the game and the tie in real danger.”
Besides the tie being Europa League semifinals first leg, Arteta plays without a recognized center-forward. The decision led to the critics as it was not received well by many.
“It’s the way we prepared the game and it’s the decision I made,’ Arteta defended his decision.
Though Arsenal are yet to exit the competition, many felt they could have done better with a center-forward.