Aston Villa moved a step closer to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals after securing a 3-1 first-leg victory away to Bologna, ending the Italian side’s 20-match unbeaten home run in the competition.
Despite appearing as one of the favourites to win the tournament, Villa were far from dominant in the opening stages and had to withstand early pressure from Bologna.
The hosts looked lively, with Jonathan Rowe causing problems down the flank.
He thought he had helped Bologna take the lead in the 26th minute when he drove forward and found Santiago Castro, whose deflected effort looped over Emiliano Martínez and into the net.
However, VAR ruled the goal out for offside.
Rowe remained a constant threat and later delivered an excellent outside-of-the-boot cross for captain Lewis Ferguson, whose effort crashed against the underside of the crossbar.
Villa gradually grew into the contest and nearly went ahead when John McGinn curled a shot narrowly wide.
The breakthrough finally came just before half-time when goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia, standing in for the injured Łukasz Skorupski, failed to deal with a corner from Youri Tielemans, allowing Ezri Konsa to head into an empty net for his first goal of the season.
Villa doubled their advantage shortly after the restart when Emiliano Buendía forced Torbjørn Lysaker Heggem into losing possession deep in his own half, and Ollie Watkins calmly slotted the ball through Ravaglia’s legs.
Bologna pushed hard to get back into the game and eventually found a way through when Rowe cut inside and fired past Martínez to pull one back.
However, Villa regained their two-goal cushion in stoppage time as Watkins headed home from a corner, leaving Bologna with a huge challenge ahead of the second leg in England.
The defeat ended Bologna’s 11-match unbeaten run in the Europa League, while Villa extended their winning streak in the competition to eight matches under Unai Emery.
