Credit: Imago / beIN Sports

Harri Burton

Mon 11 May 2026 12:52, UK

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Emi Buendia attempted to buy a late penalty as Aston Villa searched for a winner against Burnley at Turf Moor.

That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that Anthony Taylor was right not to award a spot-kick to the Villans on Sunday, 10 May.

Jaidon Anthony, Ross Barkley, Ollie Watkins and Zian Flemming all shared efforts in the 2-2 draw, with Buendia going down in the penalty area under pressure from Kyle Walker in the 90th minute.

Despite a VAR check and the Argentine having to put his shoe back on after contact from the Clarets’ experienced full-back, the shouts were waved away, and Villa had to settle for a point on the road.

Emi Buendia was looking for the penalty vs Burnley

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: “There’s not enough contact, in my opinion, so I think they’ve made the right call. Kyle Walker is a very astute, experienced player.

“He [Buendia] knows the ball is going nowhere, so he goes to ground too easily. I think he’s started going to ground even before there’s any contact.

“Boots come off, it’s amazing. I can remember one player claiming an over-the-top challenge, rolling his sock down to remove his pad to show how bad the challenge was.

“I told him that the scabbing was from the week before, and we just had a laugh about it and walked away. These are tight calls and exactly why we have VAR.”

Aston Villa star shares tongue-in-cheek message on social media

Buendia made his feelings clear on Instagram after the game, including an image of his ripped sock due to the challenge, simply captioning the post, “Play on!” with a grimacing emoji.

Lucas Digne replied with a face-palm emoji, so it was also clear that the French international thought a penalty should have been awarded. The Villans will just be hoping that the result doesn’t have further implications.

With two games of the season remaining, Villa are four points above sixth-placed Bournemouth and level on points with Liverpool in fourth.

Unai Emery’s side must face Liverpool and Man City, both huge games, as well as a Europa League final tie against Freiburg in between. Villa simply must improve after the 2-2 draw at Turf Moor.