TalkSPORT’s Tony Cascarino Believes Unai Umery Hurt Aston Villa Star With Decision Against PSG

Originally posted on PSG Talk | Last updated Apr 12, 2025 7:19 PM ET

On Saturday, talkSPORT’s Tony Cascarino stated that he was surprised that Ollie Watkins didn’t get the start for Emery as the Spanish manager decided to go with Marcus Rashford.

“It’s very hard to criticize Unai Emery because he’s done such a fabulous job at Aston Villa. But I was very surprised in the lineup, and I didn’t get why Ollie Watkins was left out. He was the main man last year. He’s still their top goal scorer this year.”

“I mean, okay, he’s not played as well. But I felt if they had gone for a front three of Ollie Watkins, obviously Rashford, and you could probably point in as—since I didn’t get why he didn’t start as well—and Morgan Rogers behind and having two holding midfielders, I thought you’d have matched up to PSG.”

Cascarino added that deciding to bench Watkins in Aston Villa’s biggest game in 40 years might lead to his desire to leave this summer.

“They wanted him to stay, and then you’ve left him out in the biggest game for, what, 40 years. I’m not sure Ollie Watkins would be okay with that. I think it would have broken him a little bit, of like, ‘Okay, so the biggest game of the season, you’ve chose a guy that you brought in on loan in front of me.’ And yes, he might have been playing better, but I feel like Ollie would really feel like he should have played.”

This article first appeared on PSG Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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