Aston Villa have one foot in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals after their hard-fought 3-1 win against Bologna on Thursday, which could have had a very different complexion had it not been for the clinical Ollie Watkins.
Ezri Konsa’s header on the stroke of halftime and a brace from Watkins, who is playing for a place in England’s FIFA World Cup squad, kept Villa on course for a first major trophy since winning the League Cup 30 years ago.
Villa face either Porto or fellow Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest in the last four should they see off Bologna, who are still barely in the tie thanks to Jonathan Rowe’s fine late strike, in next week’s second leg in Birmingham.
Photo: Reuters
Bologna have won their past seven matches away from home in all competitions, but Unai Emery has won the Europa League four times and his Villa team are big favorites to go through following Watkins’ second just before the final whistle.
“Just before halftime is a great time to score. We got the second after halftime and then we felt we always were going to score more,” Watkins told TNT Sports. “Back end of the season, I’m raring to go. I could play another 90 minutes. I’m excited for the next few games. I’m hungry.”
Villa have beaten Bologna three times in the past two seasons, including twice in this edition of the Europa League, and the English team were clinical in the way they beat a spirited Bologna, who probably deserved more from the game, but gifted their opponents all three goals.
Photo: AFP
“If we want to take that step up then we can’t make these kinds of mistakes… Anything can happen [in the second leg], but tonight should teach us a lesson,” Federico Bernardeschi told Sky.
Bologna struck the woodwork twice and Konsa was fortunate to have a 26th-minute own-goal chalked off for Santiago Castro’s toe being shown to be offside, dampening wild celebrations among the home fans.
Castro had just strayed off before he received the ball from the impressive Rowe, whose rampaging play down the left flank moments later led to Lewis Ferguson poking a great chance onto the underside of the bar.
Photo: EPA
Konsa hit Bologna with a sucker punch just before the break, the England international holding off Jhon Lucumi and taking advantage of Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia flapping at Youri Tielemans’ corner to score his first club goal since May last year.
Tielemans’ assist came in his first start since January, another huge plus for Emery who is also hoping to get Villa into the Premier League’s top five just in case he cannot win this competition for a fifth time.
Watkins gave Villa a commanding lead five minutes after the break when he pounced on Torbjorn Heggem sloppily giving the ball away in his own area, allowing the England striker to calmly roll home between Ravaglia’s legs.
Bologna continued to push, Bernardeschi striking the outside of the post, and Rowe looked to have got the hosts back into the tie in the 90th minute only for a completely unmarked Watkins to prod home from a corner deep in stoppage-time.
In Portugal, Nottingham Forest took home a promising 1-1 draw from Porto.
Porto transformed early pressure into a goal after William Gomes tapped in a low cross from Gabriel Veiga, but it was all square just two minutes later when Porto’s Martim Fernandes equalized with an own-goal.
In Germany, SC Freiburg made the most of their first quarter-final in European competitions by beating RC Celta de Vigo 3-0.
In Portugal on Wednesday, Braga and Real Betis Balompie drew 1-1.
In the UEFA Conference League quarter-finals, Crystal Palace beat ACF Fiorentina 3-0, with Jean-Philippe Mateta, Tyrick Mitchell and Ismaila Sarr finding the net at Selhurst Park.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk beat AZ 3-0, Spanish club Rayo Vallecano beat AEK Athens 3-0 and FSV Mainz 05 beat Strasbourg 2-0.
Additional reporting by staff writer and AP