Roberto De Zerbi fires dig at Unai Emery after Marseille vs Aston Villa boils over

Aston Villa and Marseille played out an ill-tempered friendly clash in France and Roberto De Zerbi wasn’t too impressed with Unai Emery’s approach to the game amid the feisty atmosphere

Roberto De Zerbi told Unai Emery there is no such thing as “friendly matches” after clashing with the Aston Villa coach in a heated meeting in southern France. Villa lost 3-1 to Marseille at the Stade Velodrome after former Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, now 36, came off the bench to score two late goals.

But the bad-tempered clash saw Tyrone Mings grab first-half goalscorer Mason Greenwood by the collar and rip his shirt after the former Manchester United tripped Amadou Onana. The striker kicked out at the Belgian midfielder after evading a number of challenges.

Onana was far from impressed and berated Greenwood, who then laughed in his face. Villa’s star then gestured towards his face before Mings stormed in followed by a number of players from each side. Greenwood was taken off the field by De Zerbi in the aftermath.

Emery was furious with Marseille’s rough tactics a week before the start of the Premier League season. But former Brighton boss De Zerbi was unimpressed with the Spaniard’s reaction.

“He complained to my players. I prefer that he takes care of his players, and I take care of mine,” De Zerbi said. “The match was heated, it’s good that it’s like that, people paid to come to the Vélodrome, when they could have gone to the beach we have to respect them. We should have been more aggressive from the start.

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“We are a professional team, like Aston Villa, like Sevilla, there are never really any friendly matches or training sessions. What’s important is not to get caught out in Rennes on Friday (Marseille’s opening Ligue 1 fixture).

“We have to go there with the same attitude, not act without commitment. Tomorrow (Sunday) morning, we train, no time to have fun or make ourselves look pretty.”

Aston Villa move on from France to Spain to take on Villarreal at the Estadi de la Ceramica. The trip marks a return to the Yellow Submarine for Emery after a two-year spell at the club where he won the Europa Leagueand reached the Champions League semi-finals.

It will be the Spaniard’s final opportunity to prepare the Villans for their Premier League opener against Newcastle United on Saturday.

The Midlands side will hope to get their campaign off to a quick start against a rival for European qualification.

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