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John Giles' verdict on the Leeds - Aston Villa furore

John Giles believes Leeds were right to allow Aston Villa to score an unopposed equaliser at the ...



Videos

John Giles' verdict on the Leeds - Aston Villa furore

John Giles believes Leeds were right to allow Aston Villa to score an unopposed equaliser at the weekend.

Leeds and Villa drew 1-1 at Elland Road in the Championship. But it all came under a cloud.

Leeds scored while Villa wanted them to kick the ball out as one of their players was down.

John joined us as always on a Thursday and first tackled that aspect of the controversy.

"All you've got to do is obey the rules. Now, the rule is that if a player goes down injured, it's the referee's decision whether he stops the play or doesn't stop the play," he said.

"What happened with the players the other day, apparently in the first half, when one of the Leeds players went down, the Villa player knocked it out of play.

"That's because he wanted to knock it out of play, which is very gentlemanly and right. But he didn't have to. It's the referee's decision."

Leeds of course did not reciprocate when a Villa player went down and scored a goal during that passage of play. After a fracas on-pitch, Leeds then allowed Villa to score a goal of their own.

John backed Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa's decision to allow Villa to score a free goal.

"In the end, I think the manager was right to do what he did. Because Leeds did get an advantage and the [Villa] players did stop," he said.

Vertonghen Case

John also discussed this week's Champions League action. In the case of Liverpool's defeat to Barcelona, he felt the 3-0 result was not a reflection of the game.

But he also lauded Lionel Messi's continuing influence at the highest level. However, he also highlighted Allisson's mistake for the first Barcelona goal.

Meanwhile, he also discussed Tottenham's 1-0 defeat to Ajax as Spurs face an away trip to salvage their chances of a first ever Champions League final.

Plus, he also shared his thoughts on Jan Vertonghen's head injury and how that was handled in regards to concussion protocols.

"I think the best thing if there's any doubt whatsoever, [the player] goes off. It's not worth the risk to bring the player back on in my opinion," he said.

"What I'm saying is if there's any doubt, even with a top doctor, if he's that bad enough to take off to the dressing room, leave him off altogether."

You can watch the full chat with John above via our YouTube channel.

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Ajax Aston Villa Barcelona Champions League Football John Giles Leeds Liverpool Off The Ball Tottenham