Villa to file complaint to PL after costly ref 'mistake'

Aston Villa plan to lodge an official complaint to the Premier League about the selection of "inexperienced" referee Thomas Bramall for the 2-0 defeat against Manchester United in which the official ruled out a Morgan Rogers goal for taking the ball out of the hands of United keeper Altay Bayindir.

Villa's failure to avoid defeat Sunday at Old Trafford ultimately cost the club a place in next season's Champions League, with Unai Emery's team finishing in sixth position -- level on points with fifth-place Newcastle, who claimed the final Champions League spot despite a 1-0 home defeat against Everton.

Bramall's decision, with the scoreline still at 0-0, proved to be a huge moment. VAR was unable to intervene because Bramall had blown his whistle before the ball had crossed the goal line after Rogers had dispossessed Bayindir.

Speaking alongside manager Emery at the postmatch news conference, Villa director of football operations Damian Vidagany said the club would be lodging a complaint with the Premier League about the selection of Bramall, who has spent three years on the league's list and took charge of Liverpool's title-winning victory against Tottenham at Anfield last month.

"The complaint is not about the decision," Vidagany said. "The complaint is about the selection of the referees. One of the most inexperienced referees for one of the most difficult matches of the season involving another four or five teams.

"It's not about the decision. The decision is clear. It's a mistake. The referee apologized for the mistake. We can do nothing. The problem is why the experienced international referees were not here today."

ESPN contacted the Premier League and PGMOL for a response, but was told that neither will be commenting.

Despite the furor, Emery stopped short of saying that the decision cost his team a place in the Champions League. By that point, Villa were already down to 10 players following a first-half red card shown to goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez for a foul on Rasmus Højlund.

"Today we can speak about the season, we can speak about the 90 minutes and we can speak about the key moments," Emery said. "The key moment was, of course, the goal of Morgan Rogers and how the referee decided the action.

"I spoke with the referee and he knows his mistakes. We make mistakes every day; I do as well. I believe in VAR and I think we have very good referees in the Premier League, but sometimes they make a mistake.

"With this goal, maybe [we] could get a better result and Champions League position, but we didn't deserve more than the result we have."