Why Morgan Rogers' Aston Villa 'winner' vs Juventus was disallowed by VAR

Aston Villa were controversially denied an injury-time winner in their UEFA Champions League league phase clash with Juventus at Villa Park.

Unai Emery's men looked destined for another draw after failing to break down the Italian giants. However, in the dying seconds of injury-time, Youri Tielemans' free-kick found its way to Morgan Rodgers, who did the rest from close distance.

However, goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio stayed down inside the penalty box after seeming to collide with Diego Carlos in the air as the free-kick was floated in.

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Juventus players appealed to referee Jesus Gil Manzano as Rogers celebrated in front of the Holte End but the goal looked as though it had been given. Unfortunately for Villa, the goal wasn't given and the visitors were awarded a free-kick in a hugely controversial decision.

Replays show Carlos and Di Gregorio colliding inside the box with the contact enough to force the ball out of the goalkeeper's hands in the opinion of the video assistant referee. After the game, Ollie Watkins admitted Villa would have been lucky to win the game if it had been given.

"I think it's soft," he said. "Maybe in the Premier League that's a goal but I feel like in Europe, the goalkeepers are protected by the referees. It's one of them.

"I thought we had scored but to be fair, it had a 0-0 game written all over. We would have been lucky if we had won it then."