Steve Bruce slams Aston Villa 25-year-old despite win v Derby
By Danny Wright
Steve Bruce has blasted Leandro Bacuna after he got himself sent off for appearing to headbutt a linesman in Aston Villa’s win against Derby.
The Villa boss has urged the 25-year-old to admit his mistake in a post-match press conference which was covered by the Birmingham Mail.
The red card could have proved costly to Villa, who scraped a 1-0 win for their first victory of 2017, and Bruce did not hold back when admitting that Bacuna’s actions were not acceptable.
Villa will now be facing the possibility of missing the midfielder for the next four matches.
“He’s overstepped the mark and done something stupid,” Bruce said in the Birmingham Mail. “Unfortunately that’s Leo. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and admit you’ve made a mistake.
“The linesman has got the decision horribly wrong. He was only five yards away. It’s a throw-in to us, so there’s a huge frustration.
“But he knows he’s overstepped the mark.”
Bacuna enjoyed a good performance for Villa in the victory over derby but has marred what was a good day for the club and they will now make the Sunday headlines for the wrong reasons.
James Chester scored the the only goal of the game in the first half against Steve McClaren’s side.
The Birmingham-based club are now eight points clear of the Championship’s bottom three courtesy of the victory and face an important tie against Bristol City next.
Bacuna will definitely miss the Bristol match, with Tuesday’s visitors being one of the sides between Villa and the relegation zone.
Back-to-back wins could quell any relegation fears the Aston Villa fans may have and could move them up to 15th place if results go their way.
In other Aston Villa news, fans also gave their verdict on Bacuna’s red card.
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