W ith the UEFA Champions League about to enter its knockout phase next week after the final round of league phase play last week, Europe's top clubs had big decisions to make rega

Unai Emery has confirmed new signings Andres Garcia and Donyell Malen will be left out of the Aston Villa squad for the Champions League’s knockout rounds.UEFA rules dictate that a maximum of three

The Dutch forward was sold an ambitious project by Unai Emery, with the cachet of Champions League football carrying significant appeal

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Signed very much for his potential, 21-year-old Spanish right-back Andres Garcia is unlikely to see too much action when Emery has a full complement of players available. He was always favourite to be one of the two not picked for the Champions League.

Aston Villa signed attacker Donyell Malen and right-back Andres Garcia in the winter transfer window, but the pair have been left out of the club’s squad for the Champions League knockout

But with Villa suffering something of a defensive crisis, Emery has instead opted for centre-back Alex Disasi, a deadline day loan signing from Chelsea. Fellow loan signings Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio have also been picked. He said: “The rules only can register three changes. We changed five players and only we can register three.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery ‘argued’ with two of his January signings after being forced to exclude them from the club’s Champions League squad. Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia will not feature for the Villans in the knockout phase of the European competition.

Listen to Sportsound and follow live text updates of Celtic's final league phase fixture in the Champions League against Aston Villa.

American soccer fans can stream every fixture of this season's tournament via Paramount Plus, which has exclusive live English-language broadcast rights in the US for the UEFA Champions League. Paramount Plus has two main subscription plans in the US: Essential for $8 a month and Premium for $13 a month. Both offer coverage of the Champions League.