Unai Emery ‘fuming’ after bizarre admin error leads to WRONG Aston Villa player being subbed off in Champions League
UNAI EMERY was left fuming with the fourth official during Aston Villa’s 3-0 demolition of Swiss side Young Boys.
A bizarre admin error meant the wrong Villa player was subbed off in the 89th minute.
Emery was left raging after the pitch side official put the wrong number up on the board.
The Villa boss saw his team wrap up the win thanks to a strike from Amadou Onana with just five minutes remaining.
He reportedly intended to remove Onana from the fray as he lined up a triple substitution.
The numbers went up on the board, with Emiliano Buendia, Ross Barkley and Ian Maatsen entering the field.
Lucas Digne and goalscorers Jacob Ramsey and Youri Tielemans were the players removed – but that didn’t appear to be Emery’s plan.
The 52-year-old be seen going wild on the touchline at the match-day officials.
Per Uefa Article 56 rules, the number put up on the officials board must match the number of the player that is taken off.
Teams cannot change it after.
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The exchange didn’t go unnoticed by fans on X, with one laughing: “lol Villa subbed the wrong guy.”
Another added: “They took the wrong Villa player off!”
After going 2-0 up in the first half, Villa had two goals ruled out as they cruised to a comfortable win in Switzerland.
They finally made the game safe through Onana, the 23-year-old crashing a low daisy-cutter into the bottom left from 25 yards with keeper Von Ballmoos at full stretch.
It sealed an emphatic return to the Champions League for Villa following a 41-year absence.
Next up for Emery’s side are Bayern Munich on October 2.
New Champions League format
Each club will play eight matches in the opening phase – against seeded opposition, in a system designed to ensure that teams play opponents of similar difficulty.
The top eight teams in the “final” table will automatically go through to the last 16, where they will be joined by the eight play-off winners of ties between the sides placed ninth to 24th in the table.
Despite there being just eight matches in the opening phase, European matches will be spread over 10 midweek slots.
The new Champions League format also sees the implication of two additional qualifying spots.
They will be awarded to the nations that are top of the “country coefficient” chart each season.
They then welcome Italians Bologna to Villa Park before paying a visit to Belgian outfit Club Brugge in November.
However, Villa fans have been left furious by the club’s Champions League ticket prices.
The cheapest adult seat appears to start at £85, with the price climbing to £94 and then £97 for premier tickets.
For season ticket holders this scales back to £70, £79 and £82.