42 years on from Aston Villa winning the European Cup, the club were back at Europe’s top table this week as we saw off Young Boys in our Champions League opener.
Goals from Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana sealed a 3-0 win in Bern as we kicked off our European campaign with three points, and it was a memorable night in this latest chapter under Unai Emery.
READ MORE: What Unai Emery said in assessment of Villa’s superb win vs Young Boys
Focus will soon switch to Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, but having now experienced our highly-anticipated opening game in Europe’s premier club competition, it was a delight to see Villa produce an excellent performance to ensure it was a winning start.
Next up is Bayern Munich at home on October 2, and we’ll hopefully take plenty of confidence into that showdown off the back of an impressive victory on the road in Switzerland this week.
Villa produce clinical, mature performance on return to big time
It was a big night for the club given the magnitude of the occasion, but the players appeared to take it in their stride and delivered a clinical and mature performance to secure a comprehensive win.
While our margin of victory could have been wider but for some contentious VAR decisions, we posed a menacing threat every time we went forward, and while Emiliano Martinez was kept busy, we looked in control and composed throughout in a mature effort that showed little sign of inexperience at this level.
The early stages were tricky as the Villa players were visibly hesitant given the difference of the synthetic pitch and so we lacked rhythm and fluidity in our play, but we soon settled and played our way to pick up a comfortable victory.
Tielemans continues to run the show
The Belgian midfielder picked up the Man of the Match award for his display, and it was a deserved recognition of yet another top class shift from him as the heartbeat of this team.
Aside from pulling the strings and dictating tempo and possession in deeper areas alongside Onana, he showed his technical quality and composure on the ball to help us break the lines and create dangerous openings.
To cap it off, he produced a lovely touch and finish for his goal to break the deadlock, and so he continues to showcase his class as our orchestrator in midfield.
Rogers, Ramsey step up another level
It was so refreshing to see two local lads shine for Villa in the Champions League, with Morgan Rogers and Ramsey both putting in eye-catching performances in our win.
Aside from his goal, Ramsey was brilliant at turning his way out of pressure and breaking free of the press and defensive structure of Young Boys, while his ability to occupy threatening areas in space sets him apart as he’s a really effective cog in Emery’s system.
As for Rogers, he’s still missing that clinical edge to his play, but he was superb again with his touch, ball-carrying ability and being an important part of our attacking trident behind Ollie Watkins to create problems for the opposition in their defensive third.
Watkins conundrum amid injury concerns
While Emery allayed concerns in his post-match interview, Watkins was seen with ice wrapped around his ankle and Achilles area after being withdrawn on the hour mark yet again.
He’s admitted himself that he’s not 100 percent and is struggling with niggles dating back to the summer, and while this was perhaps a fresh issue, time will tell if he’s ready to go again this weekend against Wolves.
Given he played well in this win off the back of scoring a brace last Saturday, his fitness woes seemingly aren’t impacting him that much. However, will Emery opt to rest him and avoid running the risk of a setback while giving Jhon Duran a starting spot? The expectation is that Watkins will not want to miss any games and may well get the nod again.
Brilliant start to European campaign, tougher tests ahead
It was a great way to start our Champions League journey, as it was an accomplished performance that would have boosted confidence and belief in our ability to continue to progress and develop to compete at this level.
That said, we’ll certainly face tougher tests in the coming weeks and months, starting with Bayern Munich on October 2 at Villa Park, and so we must utilise these experiences and use them to improve further.
As noted above, the maturity in this display was arguably the biggest positive, but we’ll need to go through the gears and raise our level again when the likes of Bayern and Juventus are lining up across from us.