Aston Villa boss Emery: I want to mention Zaniolo

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has highlighted the commitment of Nicolo Zaniolo.

A metatarsal injury means Zaniolo's season is over - as his Euro chances with Italy.

Emery said of the on-loan Galatasaray attacker: "I want to make special mention of him.

He was a doubt but he made the effort to play against Liverpool, even though he had a lot of pain in his back.

That was a small injury after we played Lille but it was very painful for him.

However, he made a big effort because we needed every player pushing to be there and he played 10 minutes and unfortunately in that time he broke his metatarsal.

He's going to miss the European Championship now with the Italian national team and it is very sad for him." Zaniolo was questioned by police investigating an Italian betting scandal shortly after joining Villa.

Emery continued: The start of the season was very difficult for him but he was progressively getting better.

In the last two months he was really really playing well and helping us. After he was injured in Lille, what happened on Monday was very sad."