Marcus Rashford, Axel Disasi and Marco Asensio, however, have been added to Villa's squad for the UCL knockout phase.

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.

Marcus Rashford joined Aston Villa in the January transfer window, with boss Unai Emery already being forced to make difficult decisions when naming his Champions League squad

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.

Some talented youngsters can qualify separately via the 'B' list so that they are eligible for UEFA Youth League as well as UCL duty and A lists are allowed to be as large as 25 players. Two of those 25 players,