Unai Emery commends ‘fantastic’ United man whom he warned his players about pre-match

Unai Emery couldn’t help but commend Andre Onana’s performance as Aston Villa slumped to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United.

The Red Devils handed Villa their third loss in the past four matches in all competitions, all of which have come at Villa Park, where they’d been so colossal this season up to now.

Sunday’s goals were provided by Rasmus Hojlund, Douglas Luiz and Scott McTominay, whose 86th-minute winner made him United’s top goalscorer in the Premier League. Still, credit must be shared with the defence, as their spirited shift kept Villa’s ever-threatening attackers quiet for the majority of the clash.

Onana has been on the receiving end of widespread criticism since his £47 million summer switch from Inter Milan but he looks to have found his feet as of late; last night, he denied the prolific Ollie Watkins from close range and made eight saves in total, with five coming from inside the box.

Andre Onana’s game by numbers vs. Aston Villa:

55 touches

25/37 passes completed

8 saves

5 saves from shots inside the box

4/4 sweeper keepers

Huge performance. 🦾 pic.twitter.com/h1ozL8TGLG

— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) February 11, 2024

Emery’s praise for Onana

Emery, who had lauded Onana’s build-up play ahead of the match, praised the Cameroonian again following the full-time whistle.

“We speak about the result, and we are frustrated,” Emery reacted, as cited by the AVFC website. “We were being successful here at home in a lot of matches, playing a lot of matches worse than we played tonight against Manchester United.

“[Villa] created chances but we weren’t clinical. Their goalkeeper played a fantastic match and we lost a very good opportunity.”