It’s not serious – Unai Emery plays down Jhon Duran disallowed goal celebration

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has defended striker Jhon Duran, saying it was “not fair” to focus on his disallowed goal celebration in the Champions League win at Young Boys.

Duran incited the home fans when he climbed on advertising hoardings after finding the bottom corner in Villa’s 3-0 win in the Swiss capital.

It was seemingly unprovoked but he was left with egg on his face as his effort was chalked off by VAR for a handball in the build-up.

Emery was repeatedly quizzed on it during the post-match press conference of Villa’s debut Champions League win, but said it was not a “serious” issue.

“I’m analysing 90 minutes, I’m analysing how we play and you are focusing on just two minutes in this match,” the Spaniard said.

“I prefer to speak about the football. It’s not the most important, we won, we played well, we were respecting them, we were respecting the supporters, we scored one goal and they were angry about the goal and the player who scored.

“He was there but I don’t know anything more, if he did something different, but it’s not relevant.

“We are now fixing only on this moment, I think it is not fair, we are speaking about 90 minutes, how is he playing, how he continued improving, things like that.

“I am involved with the player about his work and his behaviour but I think it’s not serious. It’s not very serious.”

Villa won their first Champions League match in style against the Swiss champions thanks to goals from Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana.

Tielemans said: “For our first match, it’s amazing. We can enjoy this and focus on the next game now.

“This was a good performance from myself, from the team, so we can move forward.”