Young Boys boss apologises after fan trouble at Aston Villa match

Villa striker Donyell Malen was hit by a plastic cup thrown from the away section while celebrating scoring the opening goal of the night, before fans clashed with police later in the first half with several being arrested.

Seats were hurled toward officers, with referee Georgi Kabakov forced to stop the match for several minutes.

Trouble flared initially after Malen opened the scoring in the 27th minute and the heat only increased when he doubled Villa’s advantage 15 minutes later.

Young Boys skipper Loris Benito approached away fans in the corner of the Doug Ellis Stand to appeal for calm but that only appeared to make things worse.

"It’s normal when you score, you want to be with your teammates,” said Seoane. “Maybe it was a small provocation, I don’t know. Maybe our fans took this way. But our fans should not react so heavily.

"The referee asked our captain to go with supporters and he was going there to calm things down a bit. 

“Some supporters came down to have a talk and some police reacted like they were going to jump on the pitch, but this was not the intention.

"It’s a pity from the provocation to thinking they would jump on the pitch. And the result is not nice for anybody. 

“We apologise, I don't feel good. It’s not how we want to act when we are guests somewhere and I think nobody wins and I think everybody loses from this situation.”

Young Boys supporters were already under threat of an away match ban after causing trouble in last season’s Champions League match with Celtic.

Villa boss Unai Emery said: “We need respect for both sides. It is not necessary to have what we had today.”

Malen’s double was enough to seal victory for Villa, with Joel Monteiro grabbing a late consolation for the visitors.

“We were relaxing a little bit in the second half,” admitted Emery. “A team like Young Boys, who are experienced in Europe and never give up, they can score like they did.”