Why assistant referee burst into tears seconds after Aston Villa’s win vs RB Leipzig.
The reason why assistant referee Alessandro Giallatini burst into tears just seconds after the conclusion of Aston Villa’s dramatic 3-2 win over RB Leipzig has been revealed.
Giallatini, 49, was spotted crying and sharing a moment with Leipzig boss Marco Rose as both sets of players and coaches were shaking hands in Germany. The Italian official had overseen Villa’s latest Champions League triumph, as Ross Barkley’s deflected 85th-minute strike moved Unai Emery’s side up to third in the table and on course for automatic qualification to the knockouts.
It was Villa’s fourth win from six Champions League games, having been pegged back twice by the hosts after John McGinn and Jhon Duran had put them ahead. As Villa’s jubilant fans celebrated the win after full-time, there was emotion of a different kind from Giallatini.
That’s because Tuesday’s fixture marked the 49-year-old’s last ever game as an assistant referee. Giallatini’s career highlights include working on the 2020 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.
Amazon Prime Video Sport pundit and Portugal manager Roberto Martinez hailed Giallatini’s passion for the sport, having just watched a thrilling encounter. Leipzig, who are now out of contention to reach the knockout phase, managed to drew level twice but Villa proved too strong, as they’ve done for Bayern Munich, Bologna and Young Boys so far.
McGinn’s third-minute opener was cancelled out by Lois Openda just before the half-hour mark. Duran then put Villa ahead shortly after half-time, only for Christoph Baumgartner to respond 10 minutes later.
Then it was Barkley who grabbed the winner, as his long-range strike deflected off substitute Lukas Klostermann and past the helpless Peter Gulacsi. “We tried to overcome the mistakes we made and we did. More or less we were playing consistently,” Emery told Amazon post-match.
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“One mistake and they score but then we played very well. Champions League is very difficult and we have to expect that every team playing at home are feeling strong. We played with consistency and domination.”
The Spaniard added on the prospect of achieving a top-eight finish which would see Villa avoid playing a two-legged play-off in February: “Today we were thinking if we won we could be a contender in the last two matches to be in the top eight. We achieved this option and we are going to try and get top eight. We are happy because we are in the top 24.”
