“We are top of the league, say we are top of the league,” chanted Aston Villa fans as Unai Emery’s side marked the club’s return to Europe’s elite competition with an emphatic 3-0 win over BSC Young Boys in Switzerland.
Bayern Munich’s 9-2 thumping of Dinamo Zagreb knocked Villa off top spot in the Champions League league phase table a couple of hours after the full-time whistle blew at the Wankdorf Stadium, but a victory over the Swiss champions will do for starters. Much of the pre-match talk was about the artificial surface Villa would be playing on, and in the first 20 minutes – despite training on it on Monday – you could tell the visitors were just adapting to their new conditions.
After a tentative start, Youri Tielemans’ goal in the 27th minute gave Villa the platform to dominate from thereon. It was men against Young Boys. Jacob Ramsey scored just over 10 minutes later, before Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran both saw goals ruled out by VAR either side of the break, but Amadou Onana ensured Villa would be leaving with a strong boost to the goal difference as well as three important points.
Here are the talking points from Villa’s victory…
TIELEMANS CONTINUES TO SHINE
It was no surprise that Tielemans won UEFA’s Player of the Match award after his stellar showing on Tuesday night. The ball zipped about on the plastic pitch opening stages, but he managed to get a grip on the game, not only by scoring but taking the sting out of the occasion for the home side.
Young Boys’ advantage was indeed their playing surface and they had to catch Villa out early on. After failing to do so, Tielemans and Belgian compatriot Amadou Onana ran the show, which left the home crowd frustrated.
“I wanted to enjoy the game and play as I can play, give the best I can give the team, to give my whole experience from previous campaigns in the Champions League,” Tielemans told UEFA after full-time.
“With this new format, we know it’s different. Every goal matters, every point. Tonight was a good performance from myself, from the team. It feels really good for our first day. It’s amazing. Now we can enjoy tonight and focus on the next game.
“Every game’s going to be really tough. This new format (means) everything’s going to be really important; it’s going to go down to the details at the end of the eight games. It’s going to be up to us to impose our game.”
DURAN AND WATKINS DENIED
Both of Watkins and Duran’s goals were chalked off for handballs; one more blatant than the other. It wasn’t conclusive whether or not Watkins handled the ball or not before he struck the back of the net, while Onana clearly used his arm in the build-up to Duran’s strike from inside the box.
It was a top finish from Duran, who swept the ball into the corner with excellent technique. After he bagged, the striker went straight over to the Young Boys ultras and celebrated in front of them. As both sets of players rushed towards the advertising boards where Duran had celebrated, Emery was seen in his technical area calling for his players to return to their half.
As they made their way back to the halfway line, Emery was shouting at Duran and pointing both fingers to his head. After Emery pleaded with him to stay calm, the forward received a booking for his celebration before the goal was then ruled out by VAR.
Onana struck not long after then and also decided to head towards the fans behind the goal, calling his teammates over. John McGinn was quickly on hand to usher him away in case any trouble started again.
After full-time, a steward sheltered Duran with an umbrella as he made his way down the tunnel near the Young Boys ultras. On Instagram, Duran posted: “Good start in Champions League. 3 important points away from home!! #UTV.” He then tagged Onana and joked: “I hate you a little today ok! Tomorrow we will be friends again.”
A CLEANS SHEET … FINALLY
Villa kept their first clean sheet of the season on Tuesday night and were rarely threatened despite Young Boys having 12 shots at goal. Nothing fazed the best in the world. In fact, Emi Martinez might have even been trying to provoke Young Boys into action at one point.
After standing with the ball at his feet in the corner of his box on the byline, inviting Young Boys’ Silvere Ganvoula to apply pressure, the Villa goalkeeper picked the ball up and gave the striker two taps on the cheek. The Villa fans enjoyed that in the opposite corner behind Martinez’s goal.
The last time Villa kept a clean sheet was in the 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates, a few days before Villa went through to the Europa Conference League semi-finals by beating Lille on penalties. How long ago does that feel!
On Saturday, Villa will host Wolves, who are the only other Premier League side they’ve kept out in the last seven months.
YOUNG BOYS FRUSTRATION
Villa made light work of Young Boys in the end, who appeared to be beaten by half-time. Their manager Patrick Rahmen was frustrated about his side’s lack of poise in the game. But that’s a credit to Villa’s display.
“Of course we are disappointed, we had great plans for tonight,” Rahman said. “We started the match well and we played well for the first 30 minutes. At that moment, they didn’t have many solutions and we had two chances to take the lead. But when they got in the lead that made it difficult for us. In the second half we tried everything.
“Until the end we tried our best and the longer the game went, you could see with their physical presence and expertise they made it difficult for us. We are disappointed we couldn’t score. It is clear playing at this level and conceding two goals like this makes things difficult. We needed the perfect game tonight and we didn’t manage it. We deserved to lose.
“We’re disappointed. We started well, pressed high. We had two chances to go ahead. But after going 2-0 down, it was tough. We tried in the second half, threw on a second striker knowing it would offer Villa more space, but we had to show something different. We needed a perfect game but didn’t manage it.”
Asked about Duran’s celebration, Rahman said: “It shows they wanted to win and take the match seriously, you could feel they wanted to win this match. We knew they would be coming here with a lot of energy. They wouldn’t just flick around, we knew they would want to come and win the game.”
