Angry Vincent Kompany blasts 'soft' decisions during Burnley's controversial last-gasp defeat to Aston Villa

The 10-man Clarets looked to be holding on for a heroic point until the hosts were awarded a contentious penalty in the 88th minute, which Douglas Luiz dispatched to win the game 3-2.

Burnley were forced to play around 40 minutes with a man down after Sander Berge was sent off for two yellow cards.

To make matters worse, a clear handball from Diego Carlos when Lyle Foster was through on goal went unpunished by referee Stuart Attwell.

Despite feeling proud of Burnley’s superb display at Villa Park, Kompany’s overriding feeling was one of anger given the nature of their defeat.

Arriving over an hour after full-time, Kompany joked he needed to take an ice bath to cool down.

“It’s a mixture of feelings really, I’m feeling really proud but there’s also frustration,” he said.

“As a manager there are so many things we can control. There are things we did really well and there are things we can still improve on. Come tomorrow that will be my priority, my focus.

“But there are also a few things we cannot control and right now you have to allow me to not feel great.

“My understanding of some of the situations in the game is getting tested, or was tested today.

“Where do I start? The yellow card, the first one before Sander Berge’s second, it’s soft. Really soft. It’s a coming together and the clock is ticking. The lad clearly got up and just moved on and it takes two minutes for a soft offence to get called back after we conceded a goal and for a yellow card to be handed out. It’s soft.

“The second yellow card, it’s even softer. The penalty? Soft. We can debate all day whether it’s a yellow card or not, whoever is more of a legal mind will say it’s a yellow and he should be sanctioned, those who go the other way will say you’ve got to be tougher, it’s not enough. It’s about opinions.

“But you look at the flow of the game and how the other similar offences were handled and there is a disparity. It’s disproportionate.

“One of our lads got cleaned out on the transition, but it’s not a yellow card. Either it’s a game where we allow challenges or it’s a game where we don’t allow challenges. I know which one I prefer. It might not be a surprise to you given my history that I like it to be tough.

“Even the handball, you will allow me to have a flashback and ask ‘isn’t that what happened against [Nottingham] Forest?’ I don’t want to sulk, it’s not my nature, it’s not even a rant but it’s the first time I’m having an open reflection. Am I getting it wrong or someone else getting it wrong?

“The goal against Forest, you’re wondering why it gets called off and here in the moment where the ball gets taken away from the line of my player, it’s denying a goalscoring opportunity. That’s it and we just move on and we lost the game.

“I keep going on, but there’s a corner. What I love about England is its common sense. If you compare it to where I’m from, it’s a country of common sense. You have a corner right at the end of the first-half and the ball gets cleared right back to the corner taker, surely you allow the second cross? The second phase? But no, it’s done. The half is over.

“There’s also a yellow card given against Charlie Taylor and a free-kick is awarded in a really dangerous position for Aston Villa in the first-half, but it’s a shove in the back of my player first that means he lands on the player in front of him. But my player gets a yellow card.

“When I was a defender, the ball goes over the top and if a striker like Luis Suarez or Shane Long is chasing you, you get a nudge. No matter what, so you’ve got to be able to deal with it.

“The ball goes over the top for our young winger Wilson Odobert, who is honest as hell, and he goes and chases it and the defender just falls to the floor. You could say it’s experience or it’s gambling. It depends. It’s experience if the referee falls for it. It’s gambling if, as I learned in the Premier League, you get a nudge you stay on your feet because they don’t get given.

“These moments I’m like ‘okay’, I have to reconcile a bit. Did I mention the handball yet? Because after that, after we concede the third goal, the ball goes over the top for Lyle Foster and he controls it on his chest, right on the top of his shoulder where the badge is, and I see the flag go up as quick as you can for a handball. I’m baffled, I’m bamboozled.

“I’ll probably go home and my missus will have to hear it as well.”