Sven Botman was lucky to stay on the field in the narrow defeat to Aston Villa
Aston Villa star Nicolas Jackson has accused Sven Botman of trying to break his leg in Newcastle United’s 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
The Dutchman survived a red card after a VAR review went in his favour but Jarred Gillet admitted it was a “reckless” attempt to win the ball. It goes in keeping with Botman’s shaky start to the season with Villa’s bench pouring on to the pitch in protest at St James’ Park.
When asked about the challenge, Jackson told BBC Sport: “I’m good. I know the referee said yellow card but it was so high and hopefully maybe next time a red card, but it was a yellow.
“I nearly broke my leg but anyway it’s part of football.
“The most important thing is we win and we won so I’m OK and he [Manzambi] is OK.”
Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp said at half-time: “If VAR can’t see that’s a red, we’re in trouble.
“It is so dangerous. How he’s not broken his leg there… I like to see aggression. I want to see 50/50 tackles, but you can’t do that anymore.”
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Villa boss Unai Emery was more controlled with his verdict on the incident and played down the severity of the challenge. But Matthias Jaissle said in his Press conference: “Honestly, it was really fast, both actions. So I was in the beginning sure there was no foul from Joelinton but it went so fast.
“The decision-making was clear from the referee and I think they checked even the foul from Sven but I didn’t see it right now.”
Botman was initially shown a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Jackson, but VAR reviewed it for serious foul play. But, they opted against a move to upgrade the booking and Botman was saved from a red card.
