Aston Villa’s victory over Liverpool confirms their qualification for next season’s Champions League but they now face SC Freiburg in the Europa League final
Unai Emery has confirmed Victor Lindelof ‘was not feeling good’ before he was substituted at half-time of last night’s win over Liverpool.
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The Aston Villa boss decided to replace the Swede with Ross Barkley, with his side a goal up and en route to a 4-2 victory that confirmed the club’s place in the Champions League next season.
For Emery that is Villa’s primary objective achieved but there remains the large matter of ending their 30-year trophy doubt when they face SC Freiburg in the final of the Europa League on Wednesday night.
Asked about the 31-year-old’s situation Emery admitted: “He had a small problem and he was [having] pain in his foot and he wanted to continue playing but he was not feeling good and we decided to change.
“But he helped us with his experience, with his quality and playing matches under the demands we have is not pressure because pressure should be something positive.
“He is always giving us confidence to play as a centre back like he played, or even in the last matches as a midfielder doing his task fantastically.”
BirminghamLive understands that Lindelof will be fine to feature on Wednesday night, which will come as a relief to Emery given that Amadou Onana has been injured of late, and Boubacar Kamara is ruled out.
The former Manchester United man has started the last three games in the middle of the park, two of which have produced four-goal wins.
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