E-Paper
Aston Villa star left bleeding as crowd trouble halts Europa League game: ‘Maybe it was a small provocation’
Donyell Malen faced the wrath of Young Boys' fans after scoring his Aston Villa's first and second goals, on Thursday.
Aston Villa's Europa League encounter against Young Boys on Thursday was marred by controversy, as the match was temporarily halted due to violence in the away end at Villa Park. After scoring the opener in the 27th minute, Donyell Malen was hit on the head by a plastic cup, which was thrown from the away end. His head received a cut and began to bleed a little. But he did not receive any medical treatment.
The match was then stopped for five and a half minutes as objects were being thrown at Malen after he scored his second goal in the 42nd minute. Young Boys skipper Loris Benito had to run over to the away end and speak to the fans.
Also Read: FIFA accused of bending the rules for Cristiano Ronaldo after Portugal star's White House visit
Many seats in the away end were also removed and thrown onto the pitch during the match, which Villa won 2-1.
Speaking after the match, Villa head coach Unai Emery gave an update on Malen's condition. He said, "I think he is ok."
Speaking on the Dutchman's performance, he said, "One month ago, he demanded that I changed him because he was tired. Progressively he has been getting fit. He is getting numbers, which is fantastic. He is really performing well. Now, keep going."
Dissecting the win, the former Arsenal head coach said, "We know we need the goal advantage to be in the top eight in the Europa League. We relaxed a little bit in the second half."
"A team like Young Boys, with experienced players and experienced in Europe, could score one goal like they did and then you can get in trouble. We must be learning in our process to try to avoid the moment in the future like we had today. We have to try to get the balance - how we are managing the competitions and how we manage the match.
"We did the analysis this morning and tried to get our gameplan. The first moment for the players was very good but we must be more demanding in some moments. We were relaxing maybe a little bit. Today, we did one step forward overall," he added.
Meanwhile, Young Boys head coach Gerardo Seoane apologised for the controversy, and said, "Maybe it was a small provocation [Malen]. That's how our fans took it. They shouldn't react so heavily. Our captain went to calm them. The police reacted. It was a pity for everybody. We apologise. It's not how we want to behave as guests."
