Aston Villa ‘protagonists’ worthy after Emery proclamation as Rogers and co. inspire perfect CL debut
England star in-waiting Morgan Rogers was sensational as Aston Villa avoided a banana skin and earned a statement victory in their Champions League bow.
“We are going to compete in the Champions League and I want to compete be a protagonist… I have experience in different European competitions and we competed very well three years ago with Villarreal, getting to the semi-finals. It was fantastic, but now my new challenge is to do something similar with Aston Villa.”
Unai Emery produced his less-snappy version of Conor McGregor’s “We’re not here to take part” statement before Aston Villa’s first-ever Champions League match as they marked their European Cup return following a 41-year absence on Tuesday night.
The Villans – the 11th different English club to compete in the Champions League – are the sixth team Emery has managed in this elite competition, a record only bettered by Carlo Ancelotti (eight).
Much like Ancelotti, Emery has grown to be a major tournament specialist. While Aston Villa are not yet at the same standing in European football as some of his former clubs, he was never going to settle for mediocrity during their eagerly-anticipated tour across Europe.
Upon making their Champions League bow, certain Villa supporters may low-key have been a bit gutted that it’s come after UEFA’s controversial ‘Swiss Model’ revamp of a once-perfect competition that was in no need of such reform.
The less fussy members of the Villa contingent will rightly be taking what they are given, though even they may have hoped for a more enticing opener than a trip to face Swiss champions Young Boys.
The Champions League draw spoiled Villa with their selection of home ties as matches against Bayern Munich, Juventus and Celtic are coming up.
With Emery setting his stall out pre-match, Aston Villa’s opener against Young Boys was a game they would have earmarked as one they really need to win if they are to progress to the knockout stages.
Opta reckons Villa have the sixth-easiest set of group fixtures out of the 36 teams. So on paper at least, they have a decent chance of advancing and anything past that would be considered a major bonus.
Villa certainly could have been given a first game more difficult than a trip to face the Swiss champions, who are winless in six league matches this season. But this still stood out as a potential banana skin for the Premier League side.
The setting at Young Boys’ Wankdorf Stadium made them resemble a poor man’s Borussia Dortmund, but their plastic pitch was more problematic for Aston Villa in the opening stages of the match.
Young Boys made a bright start as they had success while targeting inexperienced Villa right-back Lamare Bogarde, who was filling in for the injured Matty Cash. Their passing was crisper than the visitors, who avoided risks during a plodding first 20 minutes as they got used to the unusual playing surface.
However, Villa grew into the opening half and a superbly-crafted corner routine saw them open the scoring. Set-piece coach Austin MacPhee gave Arsenal’s Nicolas Jover a run for his money with a neat move which resulted in Youri Tielemans taking a touch and firing into the bottom corner after being wide open at the back post.
Aston Villa’s confidence was building before this moment of brilliance, but the breakthrough gave Emery’s players an injection of urgency as they subsequently looked like scoring with every attack before the interval.
READ: Top 10 Premier League players, managers, clubs and even abstract ideas living on borrowed time
England international in-waiting Morgan Rogers was – once again – the star of the show as he was at the centre of everything good that came from Villa in attacking areas; some calamitous defending gift-wrapped the English side the easiest of opportunities to double their lead.
In the 38th minute, Young Boys appeared to have dealt with an attack as Rogers’ cross was intercepted, but Mohamed Ali Camara made a brainless pass back to goalkeeper David von Ballmoos without realising Ollie Watkins was primed to nip the ball away.
Watkins got there first and was likely fouled by Von Ballmoos, but the referee did not need to make a decision as Jacob Ramsey picked up the loose ball and found the net from close range.
Watkins should have got a goal of his own a couple of minutes later, but his goal was harshly chalked off by VAR for a handball in the build-up.
So Villa had to settle for being 2-0 up at the break (if Carlsberg did first halves…) and they defended admirably in the second period.
Young Boys huffed and puffed to no avail before summer signing Amadou Onana continued his fine start to the season by firing a low bullet of a shot into the bottom corner to make it 3-0 after renowned super-sub Jhon Duran followed Watkins in having a goal disallowed by VAR for handball (that one was actually fair).
And that was that. Well done to Aston Villa and Emery. A perfect opening night in their Champions League as they get off the mark with a statement win and performance against an inferior opponent in testing circumstances.
Teams/players more accustomed to these scenarios have succumbed to similar tests (I’m looking at you, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United), so Emery’s side deserve credit for avoiding a potential banana skin ahead of what is bound to be a particularly special night at Villa Park as Bayern Munich pay a visit on October 2.
