Unai Emery has been slammed for getting a key decision wrong during Aston Villa’s heartbreaking Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Trailing 3-1 after the opening leg, Villa needed to mount an impressive comeback at home to keep their slim Champions League semi-final hopes alive.
But their challenge got even more daunting after early goals from Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes moved the French champions into a commanding position.
Youri Tielemans’ deflected strike pulled one back before John McGinn and Ezri Konsa scored in quick succession after the break but Emery’s side ultimately fell short as Gianluigi Donnarummu’s heroics guided his side to their third Champions League semi-final in five years.
Hunting their fourth to take the game to extra-time, it was loanee Marcus Rashford who provided Villa’s main attacking threat, in particular setting up Konsa’s goal with a wonderful dribble and cutback.
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And a wonderful cross from Rashford almost provided Konsa with his second moments later, only for the centre-back to inexplicably miss the ball from six yards out.
Given his threat in the game, it was perhaps surprising that the 27-year-old made way for Ollie Watkins with just under 15 minutes remaining of normal time.
And the decision particularly confused former Villa defender Stephen Warnock who said Emery made a major error by bringing the forward off given his performance up to that point.
‘I don’t know what Unai Emery saw, with the way Marcus Rashford was playing, he got it wrong. Rashford was brilliant,’ Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live at full-time.
‘Rashford was involved in everything and everything which was good was coming from him.
‘It felt like the tempo dropped when he made that substitution. You need a goal – why are you taking a striker off?
‘If you want to pin PSG back, you play Rashford and Watkins in between the full-back and centre-halves and you stretch those balls over the top.’
French journalist Julien Laurens went further, saying: ‘I was delighted when I saw his number coming up on the board, but I didn’t understand it and I didn’t think it made sense.’
Regardless of Emery’s decision to withdraw Rashford, it is clear that the Englishman has enjoyed a welcome return to form since leaving the suffocating environment at United.
But asked if Villa fans could expect to see Rashford with them again next season, Emery kept his cards close to his chest.
‘It is difficult to plan it now. He’s feeling comfortable and feeling better.,’ the Spaniard told Amazon Prime post-match. ‘Today, he played a fantastic match. We are very happy. The most important thing is if he’s happy, we’re happy.
‘Then, of course, it depends on the circumstances and what happens in the next weeks, and [what we have] in the next year as well.’
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