Aston Villa have taken a big step towards the Europa League semi-finals. Manager Unai Emery’s side had a tough time at Bologna, but secured a 3-1 victory thanks to goals from Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins (2). The second leg takes place in Birmingham next Thursday. Meanwhile, Freiburg proved far too strong for Celta de Vigo in their quarter-final, winning 3-0.
Bologna 1-3 Aston Villa
Bologna nearly opened the scoring on one of their first forays forward, with Juan Miranda’s acrobatic effort being superbly saved by Emiliano Martínez after a fine cross from Federico Bernardeschi.
The fans at the Stadio Renata Dall’Ara thought they could celebrate shortly afterwards. The cross from Santiago Castro, the reason behind Thijs Dallinga’s place on the bench, appeared to yield the opening goal via the unfortunate Ezri Konsa. However, Castro was ruled offside.
Moments later, Lewis Ferguson’s close-range effort was ruled out by the narrowest of margins for offside, and the Scot then thundered a follow-up attempt against the crossbar. Villa hit back through John McGinn, whose driven shot flashed half a metre wide of Federico Ravaglia’s goal.
Just before the break, though, Villa struck. From a Tielemans corner, Ravaglia misjudged the flight of the ball and Konsa headed in at the near post: 0-1.
Moments after the restart, Watkins drove inside and, ignoring an option to square for Morgan Rogers, finished coolly for 0-2.
Bologna kept pressing for an equaliser and came close on several occasions. Martínez was in fine form, producing a superb save from a long-range strike by Jonathan Rowe.
It seemed the game would end that way, until the 90th minute: Rowe finally beat Martínez. The Englishman cut in from the left and arrowed a superb shot into the far corner: 1-2.
Yet Villa had the last word. Watkins collected the ball unchallenged in the box and slotted it past Ravaglia to restore the two-goal cushion and leave Bologna in a precarious position: 1-3.
Freiburg – Celta Vigo 3-0
Freiburg captain Grifo, renowned for his striking ability, demonstrated his class within ten minutes, curling a precise effort from just outside the box into the far corner: 1-0.
At the back, Celta were second best, struggling to contain the hosts’ direct running. Less than a minute later it was 2–0 as former FC Emmen centre-back Jan-Niklas Beste finished from close range after a pass from Igor Matanovic.
Celta never recovered, and Freiburg made it 3-0 early in the second half when the experienced Matthias Ginter (32) headed another precise Beste delivery into the net.