Aston Villa booked their place in the semi-final of the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, beating LOSC Lille on penalties on a night that saw referee Ivan Kruzliak steal the headlines.
What a night it was for Aston Villa in Lille, as Unai Emery watched his side progress into the semi-final of the Conference League with a penalty shoot-out win over LOSC Lille.
The two teams were inseparable over 120 minutes of football, leading to the tie being decided by penalties, a scenario that presented more drama than the entirety of the game.
Emi Martinez was the star of the show for the Villans once more, winning the shootout for his side by saving two of Lille’s spot kicks, making him even more of a villain in France, if that was even possible.
Read our Aston Villa player ratings v LOSC Lille here
While the Argentine’s theatrics will be the talking point of the tie, the decisions of referee Ivan Kruzliak will also get some airtime, as the Slovak official ensured nothing in the game went past him.
Over the second leg, the referee dished out an astonishing 13 yellow cards, booking Martinez in both 90 minutes and during the penalty shootout, as well as cautioning both of the club managers, seeing many react to his decision-making.
Emiliano Buendia reacts to referee performance in Aston Villa v LOSC Lille
In the first half, the referee was certainly the headliner as he handed out a shocking six yellow cards before the interval, four on the pitch and one each to the managers of each team.
There was a lot to be said about the referee’s performance in the first half, as he seemed to lose control of the game early on, showing Nicolo Zaniolo the first booking after just 21 minutes.
It wasn’t just the players involved in Lille that had something to say about Kruzliak’s actions, as Villa absentee Emiliano Buendia took to social media to react to the game.
In the first half, the Argentine posted on his Instagram story a photo of him watching the fixture on his TV, captioning it, ‘Sr. Referee, you ok?’.
It was certainly a drama-filled performance from the referee, who was accused of ‘making the game more difficult’ than it needed to be by TNT Sports commentator, Lucy Ward.
Referee Ivan Kruzliak will be remembered for his actions in Aston Villa v Lille
It was a heated affair between both sets of players, fans, managers and the referee, who earned a host of enemies for the role he played in the quarter-final second-leg.
A lot will need to be cleared up when the theatrics have died down, with a full autopsy required to understand some calls on the night when the stakes were so high.
Buendia wasn’t the only figure to be left perplexed by the referee’s display, which will be talked about for days to come.
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