Aston Villa thumped 5-0 on Premier League final day but partying continues as they reach UEFA Champions League
As Aston Villa have endured an incredible season, they did fall to defeat on the final day of the campaign but the fans didn’t care as all directions from the new season point to Europes most elite competition as they return to the champions league.
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00:00 Aston Villa's 2023-24 season has come to an embarrassing end, quite frankly, but I don't
00:06 think they'll care. Losing 5-0 away at Crystal Palace, Selhurst Park on the final day of
00:11 the Premier League. It's not exactly the best result, is it? And the way that Palace played,
00:15 they could easily have won 7 or 8-0. The first half, there wasn't too much between the two
00:21 teams. Palace, I think, the better. Jean-Philippe Mettet are getting on the score sheet to give
00:25 them the lead. But in the second half, well, they just ran riot. Villa looked completely
00:28 uninterested. Lots of Diego Carlos, Douglas Luiz, Callum Chambers who came in for a start
00:35 in quite a rotated line-up. They just didn't show any kind of desire whatsoever to keep
00:39 the score down. And they paid the price, Villa, because Palace, they just looked incredible
00:43 on the ball. And the way that Oliver Glas' men were playing one-twos like it was nothing.
00:48 Eze driving through the space, Alisse as well, with creating opportunities and his dribbling
00:52 was very impressive. Eze scoring two from outside the area. It just wasn't good enough
00:57 at all from Villa. But as I say, they're not going to care because they've already secured
01:01 a top-four finish. They've already got their Champions League football qualification booked
01:04 for next season. So today was just a kind of a run-out for a few fringe players and
01:09 quite a few youth players on the bench as well. Coming on towards the end, also a place
01:13 on the bench for Unai Emery's son, Landa Emery, a goalkeeper, sat on the bench this afternoon.
01:20 His first ever first-team call-up for any kind of match day. So a good experience for
01:24 him. I did ask Emery in the post-match press conference what it was like to have his son
01:28 there, but he gave a bit of a boring answer, just said he was another player, which I'll
01:32 be a bit of a rude thing to say about your son. But nonetheless, Landa getting in the
01:36 match day squad will be a good experience for him. We don't expect to see Landa Emery
01:40 in the squads too often, probably not even in the Cups next season, to be honest, because
01:44 you've got Joe Gauci, you've got Robin Olsen, and of course Emiliano Martinez, the world's
01:50 number one. Martinez missed out today through a small injury, Emery says, and Leon Bailey,
01:56 who's been so impressive this season, couldn't travel because of illness. But to be honest,
02:00 those two players, probably unexpected to play anyway. A little bit like Pau Torres,
02:05 he sat out the entire fixture on the bench. This wasn't needed to risk them. I just don't
02:09 think Emery anticipated the fact that Pau would win 5-0, as I say. It could have been
02:14 six, could have been seven if it wasn't for Alisay and Eze being offside. There was one
02:19 for Mateta as well, he put the ball in the back of the net for a fourth goal, that was
02:23 flagged offside. The Villa offside trap at least worked a little bit today, but that's
02:28 one of the very few positives because it's just made so, so easy for Crystal Palace to
02:32 run through time and time again. The good thing, of course, is the fact it's the end
02:37 of the season now, it doesn't really matter, the grand scheme of things. I just think Emery
02:41 and his men won't really want to look back at this incredible season and see their final
02:45 result being a 5-0. Of course they wouldn't, but it doesn't matter too much. It's all Villa
02:49 now, go on to have a long rest, as Emery said in the press conference, and they can go and
02:54 enjoy the summer ahead of next season. Champions League football is on its way to Villa Park.