Dan Bardell has strongly criticized referee Jesús Gil Manzano for his performance during the Aston Villa versus Juventus match, particularly before disallowing Morgan Rogers’ potential goal. The match had been an intense affair, and just as it seemed Villa had scored the winning goal, controversy erupted.
In the dying moments of the game, Villa appeared to have taken the lead when Michele Di Gregorio, the Juventus goalkeeper, mishandled the ball, allowing Morgan Rogers to tap it into an empty net. However, much to the dismay of the home fans at Villa Park, the goal was ruled out by the referee. This decision was the final straw in a series of questionable calls from the Spanish official, who had already handed out soft yellow cards to three Villa players earlier in the game.
Bardell, a journalist for Sky Sports and talkSPORT, expressed little surprise at the disallowed goal, considering the referee’s earlier decisions. He shared his thoughts with Villa News, stating: “At first, I thought the referee had just awarded the goal because he pointed back to the center circle. But I didn’t celebrate because, in football these days, you just don’t get to enjoy a goal fully due to the confusion around decisions.”
The incident seemed straightforward to many; Di Gregorio had dropped the ball, which looked like a clear mistake, but Bardell noted that similar incidents in European football often lead to a foul being called. “It just looked like the goalkeeper mishandled the ball, but nine times out of ten, they’ll get given as a foul, especially in Europe,” he said. “The referee was over the top all night, so it made sense that it was given as a foul. I didn’t think it was, but it was always going to be given.”
Bardell went on to criticize the referee’s overall performance throughout the match, adding that some of his actions were excessive and unnecessary. “The referee was very dramatic all night, and some of the things he did were needless. His decisions were hard to understand, and it seemed like he was making the game more difficult than it needed to be.”
The frustration of Villa fans was evident throughout the match, with moments like an ironic cheer following a yellow card for Juventus’ Pierre Kalulu. It was as though the crowd at Villa Park was celebrating a small victory in the face of what they perceived as poor officiating. This incident, in particular, highlighted the feeling of injustice among the Villa supporters, who had been on the receiving end of a number of controversial calls.
Even more contentious was the yellow card shown to Leon Bailey for alleged dissent, which further soured the atmosphere. Fans felt that some of these decisions were unfair and harsh, especially considering the overall positive performance from the Villa side. Despite a strong showing on the pitch, Villa’s efforts were overshadowed by what many viewed as a series of poor and inconsistent calls from the match official.
In the end, the game left a bitter taste for Aston Villa supporters, who felt that their team had been hard done by in a match that was marred by controversial refereeing. The disallowed goal, coupled with a string of dubious yellow cards, led to widespread criticism of Jesús Gil Manzano, who failed to endear himself to the home crowd with his decisions. As Bardell noted, it was a match where the referee’s performance overshadowed the football itself, leaving fans frustrated and disappointed.