Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports
Topics: Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa, Unai Emery, Champions League, Marcus Rashford, Football, Premier League
Ben McCrum
Topics: Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa, Unai Emery, Champions League, Marcus Rashford, Football, Premier League
Ollie Watkins has hit out at Aston Villa manager Unai Emery over his decision to play Marcus Rashford in the Champions League.
On Saturday evening, Aston Villa secured a season-defining win as they beat Newcastle United 4-1 at Villa Park, leaving them level on points with Nottingham Forest who occupy the fifth Champions League spot.
Ahead of the game, some fans were shocked to see striker Watkins included in the lineup after he was dropped for teammate Rashford for the Champions League clashes with Paris Saint-Germain.
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But the Englishman was quick to silence his doubters, as he opened the scoring just a minute into the match, before going off on his manager in his post-match interview.
Despite a hard-fought second leg at Villa Park, the Birmingham club were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by PSG, losing the 5-4 on aggregate.
Watkins was named on the bench for both matches, getting just 33 minutes in total to make an impact across the two games, and he's not happy about it.
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Speaking after the massive win over Newcastle, Watkins told Sky Sports: "Champions League, we've put in a lot of hard graft in the last few years to get to that position.
"I played 20 minutes against PSG in both games, so I'm not going to lie - I was fuming I wasn't playing.
"I let him (Emery) know that. He's the manager at the end of the day. I respect his decision. But I'm not one of the players happy to sit on the bench."
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He added: "It's something I haven't experienced before and then to miss out on the biggest stage, you always want to play, especially in the Champions League.
"Me and a few others are disappointed we didn't start the game but like I said, it's the manager's decision.
"We did end up beating them but obviously not across both legs. The team played really well but I wanted to be out on the pitch much longer. I wanted to be starting in the important games because I've played a big part to get to where we are today."