Aston Villa have made a total revival after lingering in the second division of English football only six years back.
The Birmingham-based club has now secured 30+ wins in back to back seasons for the first time in their history, won the Europa League trophy and finished fourth in the Premier League this season.
At the heart of this success under Unai Emery has been two midfielders with vastly different playing styles, Amadou Onana and Emi Buendia.
The Belgian Onana adds stability and solidarity in the Villa midfield, making 37 appearances and the Argentine Buendia provides the much needed attacking spark from the left side, proving himself with his 10 goals and seven assists this season.
Buendia has been one of the most improved players under Emery but found himself in an awkward situation caused by Onana, accidentally.
In the official Europa League winning celebration photo from the Besiktas Stadium in Istanbul, Onana unintentionally covered the face of Buendia with his left hand, obscuring Buendia’s face.
Seeing the picture, Onana could not hold his laughter back at the expense of Villa’s no.10, who highly unimpressed, gave a priceless, deadpan reaction to it.
😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/7VEuwUaGLM
— nat 🏆 (@natsiobhan_) May 23, 2026
Onana even took to social media to share it as he often does, and this fun filled moment went viral, drawing instant comparisons with a famous Monsters Inc movie scene.
The superhit 2001 Pixar movie was about an energy-producing firm in the city of Monstropolis who generate electricity by harvesting the screams of human children.
One of its funniest scene was when Mike Wazowski and James P Sullivan (Sulley), the main protagonists of the film, are featured in an ad to promote their company on TV.
Throughout the ad, Mike repeatedly hypes himself up and waits to see his big moment on screen.
However, right when his face is finally shown on camera, his eye is perfectly blocked by a giant “Monsters, Inc.” logo graphic.
While Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) being an eccentric character had no issues with his face covered, Buendia wasn’t left very happy.
On top of that, much like the height disparity between Mike and Sulley in the movie, there is a marked difference in Onana standing 6ft 5inch tall and 5ft 8 inches Buendia, so the comparison has another merit to it.
Coming back to the footballing front, Buendia will hopefully be looking to emulate his sensational recent form in the upcoming World Cup with Argentina, as they remain one of the nations to have not announced their squad yet..
