BELIEVE IT OR not, in some instances, you are better off leaving the Christmas shopping until the last minute.

Aston Villa’s Darren Bent has apologised after a fan posted a picture (right) of him shopping, at the same time his side were losing 2-0 to Liverpool.

Bent – who was absent from the game due to injury – admitted his wrongdoing, tweeting: “I hope to be back very soon. Watched the majority of he game on tv. Never knew popping out would cause an issue and for that I apologise.”

He also reassured fans of his devotion to the club, adding:

“Nothing is more important to me than playing football, sadly injury meant I wasn’t able to do that today. Gutted not to be involved……”

However, despite his apology, Jonathan Fear, the editor of fans’ website Vital Villa, criticised the striker, telling The Guardian:

“If Darren was told to go home by the club doctors then that explains things and why he wasn’t at the game. But even if he does care for Villa, symbolically going out shopping during the latter part of the game makes it look to the fans that he doesn’t give a stuff for Villa.”

Bent is Villa’s joint top scorer so far, with five goals from 15 games.

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