Aston Villa face Bologna in the Champions League on Tuesday night, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up looks for the encounter.
Villa will be looking to make it three wins in three to start our European campaign after taking maximum points against Young Boys and Bayern Munich so far, but this promises to be another difficult challenge despite the visitors struggling for top form so far this season.
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It will be another intriguing tactical battle for Emery, while the players are continuing to deal with a hectic schedule as we look to build on Saturday’s win over Fulham following the international break.
As we move closer to having a fully fit squad available, the expectation was that Villa wouldn’t make many changes, if any at all, for this showdown, as Emery looks to continue to build our momentum and consistency, and perhaps rotate and rest key players in the coming weeks.
As per the club’s post below though, he’s made four changes to the side that won at the weekend, with Ezri Konsa, Ian Maatsen, John McGinn and Jhon Duran coming in to replace Matty Cash, Lucas Digne, Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins respectively.
That’s a crucial double boost in particular with Konsa and McGinn returning to the starting line-up after their respective injury setbacks, while there is also brilliant news as Tyrone Mings has made the matchday squad and will take his place on the bench after over a year out due to a serious knee injury.
Despite the changes, it’s a strong Villa XI as expected with superb options on the bench to come on and change the game if required, and so it’s hoped that everyone comes through unscathed and Villa are able to secure another important win in Europe to continue to march towards qualifying for the next stage.
Aston Villa XI vs Bologna: Martinez, Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau, Maatsen, Onana, Tielemans, Bailey, Rogers, McGinn, Duran.
How we start against Bologna in the Champions League this evening 👊#UCL || #UpTheVilla pic.twitter.com/ZJycB6xXY8
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 22, 2024
