Unai Emery on Jhon Duran controversy after disallowed Aston Villa goal
Unai Emery insists it is "not fair" to focus on Jhon Duran's decision to celebrate his goal - which was later chalked off by VAR - in front of the Young Boys fans after Aston Villa's 3-0 win at the Wankdorf Stadium.
Villa were full value for their win as Youri Tielemans and Jacob Ramsey put them in a comfortable lead before the break. It could have been more as Ollie Watkins saw his goal ruled out by VAR for a handball, which looked harsh on replay. After replacing Watkins on the hour mark, Duran thought he had extended Villa's lead further by converting inside the box.
He proceeded to celebrate in front of the Young Boys ultras behind the goal, but VAR overturned it because Amadou Onana handled the ball in the build-up. After the match, Emery was asked a number of questions about Duran's celebration, but the Villa boss wanted to focus on the football instead.
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"I didn't see it exactly," Emery said of the incident. "He scored a goal and he was there and of course the supporters were beside him. Of course, if he ran to the side with our supporters it would be better!
"I can tell as well the reaction of our supporters - sharing with us the first match in the Champions League for a long time. And we won today for Gary Shaw and the supporters - we all pulled for Aston Villa in that moment."
Asked if Duran's celebration showed he still has some maturing to do, Emery said: "We are working, more or less two years with every player since arriving in December a year and a half ago, we are trying to be and create extra mentality inside the players, the commitment that they have here, to be mature and be responsible and be respectful inside and outside.
"This is the way I know we have to continue doing. Some players being young they take time to get mature and responsible 100 per cent.
"We are now fixing only on this moment, I think it is not fair, we are speaking about 90 minutes, how is he playing, how he continued improving, things like that. I am involved with the players about his work and his behaviour but I think it’s not serious. It’s not very serious."
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