Aston Villa loanee Samuel Iling-Junior showed Unai Emery what he’s missing out on with a late equaliser in Bologna’s 2-2 draw with Como.
Coming off the bench for his Bologna debut with the Rossoblu 2-0 down on 14 September, the 20-year-old winger drilled a low strike into the bottom corner in injury time.
This brought the Italian side level after Santiago Castro had halved the deficit 15 minutes prior, and he laid on the assist for Iling-Junior’s strike to mark a dream debut by the Villa loanee.
Iling-Junior arrived at Villa Park on 1 July as part of the deal which saw Douglas Luiz move to Juventus but was loaned back to Serie A just a matter of weeks later and signed for Bologna on 27 August.
Samuel Iling-Junior shows Aston Villa what they’re missing
Despite playing only 27 minutes off the bench as a second-half substitute against Como, Iling-Junior was heavily involved on Bologna’s right flank and played a crucial role in them securing a result.
His equalising goal in injury time came with just 0.04 xG behind it [SofaScore], converting his only shot of the game in an improbable fashion while also registering 0.15 expected assists (xA).
Iling-Junior had 32 touches in total and completed 78 per cent of his 18 passes, while also completing two dribbles and a key pass – the latter laid on for midfielder Jens Odegaard.
Three of those touches came in the Como box, and Iling-Junior twice passed into the final third [FotMob], linking up with the likes of Odegaard and Castro as Bologna chased the game.
Although only one each of his attempted crosses and long balls found their targets, Iling-Junior did win two of his five ground duels, and put in one defensive action in the form of a successful interception.
It’s certainly been a strong start to his season-long spell at Bologna, and with Villa also getting off to a good start with late goals aplenty, fans will be looking forward to seeing Iling-Junior return to the fold.
