Aston Villa and Marseille play out feisty ‘pre-season’ clash

Unai Emery's side lost the clash 3-1 after Mason Greenwood gave Roberto De Zerbi's side the lead. 

Not long after, John McGinn restored parity to make it 1-1. With the score remaining all square heading into the final stages, new signing Evann Guessand made his Villa debut with 20 minutes to go before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a late brace to make it 3-1. 

It was a feisty affair with Greenwood becoming embroiled in an altercation with Tyrone Mings after the forward put in a late challenge on Amadou Onana. The former Manchester United man was then substituted moments later. 

That was not the end of the drama as De Zerbi and Emery were also embroiled in a touchline argument as tempers boiled over. 

And De Zerbi gave his take on it after the match. 

“The match was heated, but that's also what people came to see,” he said. “They paid to come, they could have gone to the beach, but they came to the Velodrome.

"With Unai, he complained about my players, and I didn't like that. It's up to me to talk to them; the opposing coach must look after his players.

“What I liked was the stadium, the enthusiasm of the crowd, and the atmosphere. We savoured it all. We played a great match against a very strong team, led by one of the best coaches in Europe.

"We could have been more aggressive in the first half, and higher up the pitch without the ball. Which we managed to do in the second half. It was harder for Aston Villa to get past the midfield. 

“At this level, there are never any friendly matches or training sessions: when you wear the jersey, you have to be 100 per cent. We mustn't get caught out,

“The important thing is to maintain the same attitude, not to play superficially and not to think we're better than we are. We'll see the result later, but attitude must never be a mistake.”

Villa kick off their Premier League campaign next Saturday when Newcastle make the trip to Villa Park - a game that will start at 12.30.