Aston Villa fumble huge Champions League opportunity with abject Monaco display
Aston Villa need other results to go their way after hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Champions League were dented by a 1-0 defeat to AS Monaco.
Aston Villa knew a win in France would guarantee them a place in the top eight and a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League. That is assuming Lille do not beat Liverpool away and Feyenoord at home while Villa back up a loss in Monaco with another at home to Celtic.
Securing automatic qualification to the knockouts would be an outstanding achievement for Unai Emery and his players, who defied the odds to qualify for the Champions League with a fourth-place finish in the Premier League last season.
The Villans have put in more than a solid account of themselves in Europe this season, beating Bayern Munich in between victories against Young Boys and Bologna for nine points out of nine. Defeat at Club Brugge came thanks to a comical Tyrone Mings handball in the box but Villa (sort of) bounced back with a goalless draw at home to Serie A juggernauts Juventus.
An impressive 3-2 win at RB Leipzig put Villa in a commanding league phase position ahead of two winnable fixtures against AS Monaco and Celtic.
They could not get the win that all but secures a spot in the next round and Emery now requires a few favours to avoid the stress of a two-legged playoff tie.
In the first time Monaco and Aston Villa – who are eighth in the Premier League – have ever met, Leon Bailey should have put the Premier League side ahead early on but took his eye off the ball with a wide open header from close range.
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The French side made Bailey and Villa pay by scoring the only goal of the game in the eighth minute. Ivorian defender Wilfried Singo’s commanding header from a yard out came after Emiliano Martinez denied Thilo Kehrer’s effort from Lamine Camara’s outswinging corner.
Monaco were on top after the goal as both sides exchanged scoring opportunities. Impressive 22-year-old winger Maghnes Akliouche tested Martinez again after being found on the edge of the box by Eliesse Ben Seghir’s inch-perfect cut-back.
Monaco’s attack has a nice combination of youth and experience with Akliouche, Ben Seghir, 19, Takumi Minamino, 30 and Breel Embolo (who does play club football), 27, causing the Villa defence plenty of problems throughout the game.
Ollie Watkins gave the home fans a scare when he was bundled over one-on-one with goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki but the referee’s whistle was for an offside against the England striker.
Majecki and Watkins did have their first duel shortly after. The latter did almost everything right with a low and hard effort across the goal but the connection was not the best and Majecki got down well to keep his team ahead.
Villa should have equalised before the break but even closer to half-time Monaco’s Akliouche missed an absolute sitter. Minamino put him through with only Martinez to beat and the youngster lost all composure, blazing over the bar from around eight yards out.
Monaco thought they had doubled their lead after the break when Akliouche put the ball in the net with a confident and precise first-time finish. He was clearly offside from Wanderson’s excellent pass and with no line drawing necessary, the semi-automated offside system confirmed the on-field decision in no time at all. Must be nice.
Villa improved in the second half but Emery still turned to super sub Jhon Duran with only 56 minutes on the clock, bringing him on for Bailey to play up front with Watkins, days after he said they can play together and his manager really ought to make it happen.
“I feel like me and Jhon could maybe play up top together. We’ve not had many opportunities to do that. I don’t think we’ve started a game up front together, but no it’s not nice to be substituted but you have to accept the manager’s decision,” he said.
Watkins and Duran have played 36 matches together but very rarely (only four times) do they share the pitch for more than half an hour, with one usually coming on and the starter coming off for the other then or shortly after. They only have one start up front together and that was on the final day of 2023/24 when Villa lost 5-0 at Crystal Palace. It never happening all of a sudden makes perfect sense.
Duran could not make the desired impact after a difficult battle with match-winner Singo and now Villa are joint on points with Monaco but two goals better off, which is two places better off with Brest sandwiched in between for now.
Villa had some chances on the break but Monaco were the better side on the night and deserved their win.
Aston Villa could have jumped up to second above Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen with three points in France but defeat sets up a nervy ending to their league phase campaign.
It is ridiculously tight between Villa in seventh (plus Arsenal in third) and Club Brugge all the way down in 19th, with only three points separating them. Emery will be thankful it is only Celtic coming to the Midlands next week, though a win in any Champions League fixture is obviously not a given. He will also be thankful and probably should consider the campaign a job well done with a playoff place secured.
Seven teams are on 13 points, three on 12, one on 11 and four on 10. Looking at the teams behind Villa, you do fear that this Monaco defeat could be costly.
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