Aston Villa played Wycombe in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night.
Unai Emery’s team booked their place in the next round of the competition but they were made to work hard for it by the League One side.
Captain Emi Buendia opened the scoring for the Midlands club and later Jhon Duran won a penalty, which he scored himself to give Villa a two goal lead.
Wycombe scored a late goal but it meant nothing and Villa sealed qualification to the next round.
Duran, who has scored four goals in five Premier League matches this season and received praise for his performances from the fans and the media, has now received criticism from Alan Bazil and Dean Saunders for what he did against Wycombe.
The Colombian striker dived, in the opinion of the pundits, to win a penalty against the League One side.
Saunders said on talkSPORT:
“That was a dive, he’s a good player, by the way.”
Brazil responded:
“No way was that a penalty. I’m not saying he’s not (a good player). But how does VAR get that wrong? Any VAR there last night? So, there wasn’t.”
Saunders added:
“If you look at the ref’s view, he is running at Duran’s back. The linesman has to help him. It’s difficult for a referee, but it shouldn’t be difficult if you have five screens, which they never had last night. That’s the bit that annoys me. I can understand the ref getting it wrong.”
Brazil then asked:
“If there is no VAR, can’t someone, another official, be watching the replay saying ‘no, no, no’. Why aren’t they allowed to watch a replay? He should be (wired up). What’s the point of VAR, then?! I am losing the will to live.”
It wasn’t the best performance from Duran but he still ended up scoring the decisive goal for his team.
It is up for debate whether the player won the penalty fairly or not but there is no doubt that he has finally found his goal scoring touch.
He is still a long way from making it to the starting line up at the club due to the presence of Ollie Watkins but he is currently on the right track.