Aston Villa boss Unai Emery confronts officials in tunnel after huge Man Utd controversy

A furious Unai Emery waited for referee Thomas Bramall at the Old Trafford tunnel after Aston Villa's highly controversial defeat at . Villa went into the final day of the season needing a positive result - and others to go their way - in order to secure a return to the .

But their hopes were dashed at The Theatre of Dreams as they lost 2-0 and will have to settle for the . Villa thought they had opened the scoring in the second half when Morgan Rogers nicked the ball off United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir before rolling the ball into the empty net.

blowing the whistle before the goal was scored. That meant that VAR was unable to intervene and award the goal.

A statement from the Premier League Match Centre read: "The referee’s call was a free kick to Manchester United with Bayindir deemed to be in control of the ball before Rogers gained possession. The whistle was blown by the referee before the ball entered the goal, therefore the incident was not reviewable by the VAR."

Villa's frustrations only heightened minutes later when Amad scored the all-important opening goal. Christian Eriksen then made it two from the spot, with the visitors left to rue the controversial call.

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After the final whistle, Emery waited at the mouth of the Old Trafford tunnel to talk to the officials and was seen angrily discussing the incident as they made their way off the pitch.

It meant Villa's impressive season ended on somewhat of a sour note, despite securing European football for the third successive season. But after reaching the Champions League quarters and coming within a whisker of pulling off a miraculous comeback vs Paris Saint-Germain, they wanted another crack at the top table.

Perhaps adding to their regret was the fact that results did go in Villa's way in the final knockings of the domestic season. Emery's men needed a favour from elsewhere and got it with losing to at home.

But they were unable to capitalise with a below-par performance from the Villans. United dominated much of the early going and were then given a huge boost when Emiliano Martinez was shown a straight red for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

That happened when Matty Cash's under-hit backpass was picked off by Rasmus Hojlund who attempted to round the World Cup winner. Martinez was called into action and performed a body check on the United forward. Referee Bramall immediately gave him his marching orders with the VAR in Stockley Park backing up his decision.

A statement on that decision read: "The referee’s call of red card to Martinez for denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO) was checked and confirmed by VAR."

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