ASTON VILLA cruised through their Champions League last 16 clash with Club Brugge.
The Villans came into the second leg 3-1 up and any chance the Belgians had of coming back disappeared when Kyriani Sabbe was sent off for a last man challenge on Marcus Rashford in the 17th minute.
Villa then went on to win the second leg 3-0 with a double from Marcos Asensio and a goal from Ian Maatsen.
And such was the ease with which Villa advanced to the quarter-finals that the two managers decided there was no need for any stoppage time to be played.
As the clocked ticked to 90 minutes, Unai Emery could be seen approaching Brugge counterpart Nicky Hayen before the pair then shared a hug.
And then on 90 minutes and two seconds, the referee blew the final whistle.
Fans then took to X to hail the “classy” decision.
One wrote: “Classy stuff between those managers. Sometimes the losing manager can easily take this as an insult so more props to them.”
Another posted: “An actual sensible decision for once.”
However, other fans suggested that the pair of managers shouldn’t have been allowed to choose how much stoppage time was played.
One stated: “When was it allowed to wipe out injury time if both managers say so?”
Another fan wrote: “They can just do that???”
And a third posted: “Shouldn’t be allowed. Yellow/red cards, injuries, goals/assists for statistics all can occur in stoppage time.
“You wouldn’t have let PSV just call off their game tonight altogether, so this shouldn’t happen either.”
Arsenal played out a 2-2 draw with PSV after hammering the Dutch side 7-1 in the Netherlands in the first leg.
And interestingly, a significant incident did occur in stoppage time of a tie which the Gunners had long since won.
Player of the Match Raheem Sterling picked up a 93rd minute booking, which will see him banned for the first leg of the quarter-final against Real Madrid.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, will face PSG following the French side’s penalty shootout win over Liverpool at Anfield.
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