Football Villa upset at choice of ref for crunch United clash

ASTON Villa have made an official complaint to the Premier League over the choice of referee for their key clash at Manchester United after seeing a goal controversially ruled out as they failed to qualify for the Champions League.

- Simon PEACH

Unai Emery's men struggled at Old Trafford and life was made harder by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez's sending-off just before half-time, yet they looked to have taken the lead through Morgan Rogers in the 73rd minute.

United's back-up goalkeeper Altay Bayindir did not have the ball in control when it was taken out of his hands by the Villa man, but referee Thomas Bramall had blown for a foul before his strike found the net.

The Premier League match centre confirmed "the incident was not reviewable by the VAR" as "the whistle was blown by the referee before the ball entered the goal" - a body blow quickly followed by Amad Diallo and Christian Eriksen strikes.

Villa's 2-0 defeat saw them finish sixth and miss out on Champions League qualification, with the club later confirming they had lodged a complaint with the Premier League.

"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 second least experienced," a statement said.