Buckle up. This victory began a run of six matches that could define Aston Villa’s season and Unai Emery seems determined to go full throttle in every single one.
Goals either side of half time from Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins put Villa on the brink of the Europa League semi-finals and though Bologna rallied through Jonathan Rowe, Watkins restored their two-goal lead with virtually the last kick of the game. On Sunday they travel to Nottingham Forest before tackling Bologna in the second leg. Then there are meetings with Sunderland and Fulham, leading into a probable semi-final, against either Porto or Forest.
Yet where Forest can afford to rotate their squad in Europe, many of the Villa players who started this game may play all six. Emi Martinez, Youri Tielemans, John McGinn, Morgan Rogers, Konsa and Watkins will surely be required in every one, with Emery’s options from the bench relatively limited. Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey have yet to find top form in their second spells at Villa, while Emery does not seem fully to trust Tammy Abraham or Ian Maatsen. Jadon Sancho should be back from injury soon and Emery can always rely on Tyrone Mings though for now, Konsa and Torres are the first-choice pair in central defence.
Emery will be delighted with this result, if not the whole performance and as soon as he had boarded the Villa coach, the manager would have been on his laptop. Emery is forever reviewing, thinking and planning and he will probably have the rest of April mapped out in his mind. He will hope Villa are as lucky in subsequent games as they were in the first half here, which was dominated by Bologna. Before Konsa put Villa in front, the home side had a goal ruled out through a fractional offside and hit the bar through Federico Bernardeschi.
This is the stadium where former Villa midfielder David Platt scored one of England’s most famous goals of modern times, the extra-time volley against Belgium that sent Sir Bobby Robson’s team into the quarter-finals of Italia 90.
Nearly four decades on, it remains an evocative arena and there was an atmosphere to match. The 2,400 travelling fans were drowned out as Villa were whistled on to the pitch even for the warm-up. Though Villa defeated Bologna at Villa Park in each of the last two seasons and the home side are only eighth in Serie A, there was optimism in the air and Bologna’s first-half display justified it.
Ollie Watkins helped spearhead an important first-leg victory for Aston Villa versus Bologna
Unai Emery will have been delighted with his players but there is much more to do before the end of the season
Three times in the opening minutes, Martinez tried to pick out Watkins with a long ball over the top but could not find his range. The visitors were then irritated when play was called back for a foul by Jhon Lucumi on Emi Buendia, when referee Sandro Scharer should have let the move go. From the free-kick, Tielemans spotted Watkins’ run and the unmarked forward was inches from connecting.
Yet for the rest of the half, Villa were fortunate. In the 21st minute, Juan Miranda drifted inside Matty Cash and found Santiago Castro, whose miskick allowed Pau Torres to block. Seconds later, Miranda met Federico Bernardeschi’s cross on the volley and Martinez tipped over.
By now Martinez was taking an age over restarts and twice in the first half Amadou Onana stayed down after a challenge, with Villa trying desperately to regroup. But Unai Emery’s men were labouring and they thought they had gone behind midway through the half.
Cash was out-jumped on halfway by Jonathan Rowe and the former Norwich winger raced into Villa territory before feeding Castro. The Argentine’s effort clipped Konsa and though Cash hoofed it clear, the ball had already crossed the line – but Villa’s luck was in. VAR replays indicated Castro had been a fraction offside and the goal was disallowed.
Goalscorer Ezri Konsa is one of a number of players that Emery will continue to expect a lot from for the remainder of the season
Bologna’s Jonathan Rowe thought he had brought his side within one goal of the visitors before Watkins’ final kick
Moments later, Castro barged Konsa off the ball, the outstanding Rowe picked up the pieces and Bernardeschi met his cross with a first-time volley that struck the underside of the bar. No wonder Martinez clenched his fist in celebration and exchanged relieved glances with Torres.
The Bologna attacking trio of Rowe, Castro and Bernardeschi were causing Villa huge problems and full-backs Cash and Lucas Digne were struggling. Yet Villa have become a savvy European outfit under Emery and despite playing poorly, they stayed in the game.
John McGinn’s 25-yard effort had Federico Ravaglia scrambling across his goal and a corner found Onana unmarked. Bologna were clearly unsettled by Villa’s blocking tactics to release Onana and seemed to lose focus when the next corner came. A crucial mistake.
Tielemans sent the ball towards the far post, Ravaglia grasped at thin air and Konsa escaped Lucumi’s clutches to head Villa in front. The England defender celebrated in front of the Bologna fans and a few bottles were promptly aimed in his direction.
Rowe continued to trouble Villa at the start of the second half, making another dash down the left before teeing up Tommaso Pobega, though the midfielder’s effort from 20 yards was high and wide.
Villa had survived again and they quickly doubled their lead when Miranda played Torbjorn Heggem into danger with a risky pass across the box. Heggem’s attempted clearance then rebounded off Buendia and ran perfectly for Watkins to slide the second past Ravaglia.
The circumstances were ideal for Villa to kill off the tie and Rogers put a dipping effort just over before Watkins over-ran a pass from Buendia and allowed Ravaglia to gather while at the other end Bernardeschi struck the outside of the post from eight yards and Martinez saved brilliantly from Rowe. The winger scored the goal his display deserved when he cut inside and beat Martinez on the angle but his good work was undone when Bologna defended another corner poorly and Watkins prodded in his second.
