Resurgent Reggae Boy Leon Bailey has hit out at officials after the winger says they took no action when he was elbowed in the ribs by Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez during Aston Villa’s superb 3-1 win on Sunday.
British newspapers said Bailey, who opened the scoring after seven minutes, was far from happy that referee Anthony Taylor and his linesman took no action over the incident just after the hour mark at Villa Park following an altercation between Bailey and Martinez, later asking: “Why do we have VAR?”
As the Argentinian attempted to see the ball out of play for a United goal kick in the 64th minute, Bailey tried to win the ball by pressuring Martinez.
The centre-back then appeared to throw a couple of elbows towards Bailey’s stomach, but he escaped unpunished, despite being just a few yards away from the linesman and in the sight of the referee. United were awarded a goal kick instead.
Bailey later took to social media to criticise the officials and speak of his shock at not winning at least a free kick following the clash.
The Jamaican said in a post: “Very disappointed in the referees today, I couldn’t breathe for a second after getting elbowed twice in my rib.
“The linesman went on to say I shouldn’t be saying anything because I was doing just the same thing to Martinez.
“Sometimes I don’t understand why we got VAR. SMH (shaking my head).”
Bailey was substituted soon afterwards as Villa held out for the 3-1 win in new manager Unai Emery’s first game as manager following the sacking of Steven Gerrard.
Despite the altercation, it was another superb afternoon for Bailey, who is enjoying a promising campaign.
He has scored twice and provided one assist in his last three games and has three goals and two assists in 11 Premier League starts.
Leon Bailey joined Villa from German outfit Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2021 for a reported £30 million (US$34.5 million) fee, but struggled with form and fitness, as he racked up just one goal and two assists in the Premier League last season.
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