Aston Villa’s Donyell Malen was hit with an object after Young Boys fans threw objects onto the pitch – with their manager Gerardo Seoane apologising, but claiming they were provoked
The Young Boys manager has apologised for the actions of some of their fans
Young Boys manager Gerardo Seoane has apologised for the scenes at Villa Park which saw Aston Villa’s Donyell Malen left with a cut to the head after objects were thrown in his direction.
The Dutchman scored twice for the Premier League outfit as they secured a 2-1 victory over the Swiss side to jump up to third in the Europa League. The game though was marred by issues involving the away supporters – who clashed with police at one stage.
The contest was paused for five minutes as Young Boys captain Loris Benito went over in an attempt to calm down his fans. Seoane claimed supporters came down from the stand to speak to the players, but police thought they were attempting to jump onto the pitch, which ignited the chaos.
Seoane has also apologised after the away fans threw objects towards Malen, but did suggest that the Villa players celebrating in front of the Young Boys crowd did not help.
He said: “It’s normal when you score a goal that you want to be with your team-mates. Maybe it was a small provocation, I don’t know. Our fans could have taken this as a provocation. “This is part of football but our fans should not react so angrily.
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“The referee asked our captain to go calm our supporters. Some fans came down to talk to the players and the police reacted like they were jumping on the pitch, but that was not their intention. It’s a pity for everybody throwing the objects. The result is not nice for anybody.
“We apologise, we don’t feel good and not the way our supporters are normally, or how we want to act when we are guests somewhere and no one wins at the end, everybody loses in this situation. Football is with emotions. There is a rule to not provoke, nobody does it on purpose, it was more the joy of scoring.”
Donyell Malen was struck on the head by an object that was thrown from the crowd(Image: Getty Images)
Villa boss Unai Emery has a sensational record in the Europa League, winning it on four occasions with two different clubs. He remained tight-lipped on the situation involving Malen but claimed the ugly scenes in the first-half were “not necessary”.
He also said: “We need respect for both sides. It is not necessary to get a moment like we had today. Respect for both sides. I think [Malen is] OK.”
After a slow start to the season Villa have now won nine of their last 11 games to push themselves back into contention domestically and in Europe.
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