Aston Villa: Pundit drops ‘raging’ verdict after Douglas Luiz incident v Manchester United
Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz would have left Raphael Varane “absolutely raging” with his celebration after scoring against Manchester United, according to Alan Hutton.
Luiz levelled the clash midway through the second half with a smart finish, before celebrating in the direction of the Manchester United backline with a dancing celebration that received a mixed reaction from players and pundits alike.
Ex-Red Devils defender Rio Ferdinand was quick to take to X (11 February) to post a picture of Luiz celebrating, with the caption: “You ok?” with four laughing emojis, with Luiz quickly replying (February 12) that he was completely fine and it was just carnival time in Brazil.
While Hutton believes that Luiz didn’t do anything wrong by celebrating his goal in that manner, he has admitted that those sorts of antics almost always come “back to haunt” players and encouraged the Villa star to keep his head down in games.
“I can see it from both sides,” Hutton told Villa News.
“I’ve been in that situation where you’re defending against somebody and unfortunately you maybe give a little bit back and forth and they score and taunt you a little bit with the celebration. It’s about how you react to it.
“Inside, if I’m Varane or whoever it was directed to I’d be absolutely raging, but I’d just put his name down in my little black book and say ‘I’ll get you back next time’. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened as Man United went up the other end and scored and Varane had a wee word with him.
“You get your own back eventually, but I’m not against it as long as it’s not right in the person’s face or shouting and screaming. If it’s a little celebration, I think he said it was carnival time in Brazil, you just have to deal with it.
“When you see all this stuff, more often than not it will come back to haunt you. That’s why, when I was playing I just tried to keep my head down and try not to get drawn into the other stuff.”
Aston Villa and Douglas Luiz must focus on the task at hand
Luiz has been a key part of Unai Emery’s squad this season, forming an excellent partnership with Boubacar Kamara in the middle of the park that has allowed Villa to climb into the race for the Champions League places this term.
The Brazilian international has proven to be a real goal threat as well, popping up with seven strikes and four assists in 23 Premier League appearances so far in the campaign and Villa won’t want to see him take his eye off of the ball.
As Hutton suggested, there is no issue with celebrating a goal and players have done far worse things than Luiz after scoring, but it almost always comes back to bite you.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton believes that Emery’s side have just suffered a “massive” blow to their top-four hopes
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