Marcus Rashford was praised for his performance during Aston Villa’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, only to be substituted by Unai Emery
Unai Emery has been criticised for subbing Marcus Rashford as Aston Villa chased a goal in their heartbreaking Champions League quarter-final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. Rashford, 27, recovered from a poor start to the game to produce a sparkling second-half performance.
His assist for Ezri Konsa’s goal which gave Villa the lead on the night and cut the deficit to 5-4 on aggregate particularly caught the eye, as he glided past Fabian Ruiz and cut the ball back inside the penalty area. Rashford had got the nod over Villa striker Ollie Watkins for the third successive game, a call which raised eyebrows.
But it was Emery’s decision to substitute the Manchester United loanee in 76th minute which sparked further debate. Rashford’s number came up with Villa leading the second leg 3-2 but still needing one more goal to force extra-time.
Former Liverpool and Villa defender Stephen Warnock was surprised, saying on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I don’t know what Unai Emery saw, with the way Marcus Rashford was playing, he got it wrong. Rashford was brilliant.
“Rashford was involved in everything and everything which was good was coming from him. It felt like the tempo dropped when he made that substitution. You need a goal – why are you taking a striker off?
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“If you want to pin PSG back, you play Rashford and Watkins in between the full-back and centre-halves and you stretch those balls over the top.”
Moments before Emery made the change, ex-United and Villa striker Dion Dublin added: “Marcus Rashford is on fire tonight. You don’t want to take him off.”
Dublin also said: “Marcus Rashford didn’t score, but the energy levels that he had… he was making those defenders make mistakes. For me, he was man of the match for Villa.”
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After his side failed to find an equaliser, Emery was tight-lipped on Rashford’s future at Villa, who have a £40million option to sign him permanently from United when the summer transfer window opens. “It’s difficult to plan it now,” the Spaniard admitted when speaking to Prime Video Sport.
“Of course, he is feeling better and today he played a fantastic match and we are very happy and most importantly he is happy. So we are happy with him and he’s happy with us this is important with the process we have.”
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