🥱 Bologna's defence is a DISASTER: Aston Villa win 3-1! Rowe is 😲 | OneFootball

Bologna tried to pull off an upset against Aston Villa, but it was their defending that brought them down.

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Emery’s men won 1-3 at the Dall’Ara in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals.

Bologna started strongly and immediately created the moment that could have shaped the match: a brilliant run from Jonathan Rowe, an assist for Castro, and the ball in the net, but the joy lasted only a few seconds. VAR ruled it out for a marginal offside, leaving a bitter taste for the Rossoblù, who had deserved the lead for what they had produced.

From that point on, the match became complicated because of huge mistakes. First, Ravaglia’s failed punch left the goal wide open for Ezri Konsa, then a dreadful giveaway while playing out from the back allowed Ollie Watkins to punish them again: two gifts that Aston Villa took full advantage of without mercy. Despite the double blow, Bologna did not give up and kept pushing hard, coming close to scoring several times. Between the post, the crossbar and a great save from Emiliano Martínez, the Rossoblù ran into bad luck but gave the feeling they could get back into it.

The reward for their persistence came late on: once again Rowe, the best player on the pitch, cut inside from the left and unleashed a powerful right-footed strike into the far corner, reigniting both the match and their hopes.

But just when the game seemed back open, stoppage time brought a freezing blow: from a corner, the defence switched off again and Watkins, left completely unmarked, made it 1-3 and killed off any comeback attempt.

🔚 Bologna vs Aston Villa 1-3, collapse at the end

Watkins’ goal was the knockout blow: 3-1 late on and the match finished with the final kick. The return leg in Birmingham is in 7 days.

⚽ Incredible: defensive horror again, Watkins grabs Villa’s third at the death

MINUTE 93 - It looked like everything was back open, even with the return leg in mind, but yet another defensive lapse gifted Aston Villa the 1-3 goal.

The final blow arrived in stoppage time for Bologna. From yet another corner, Aston Villa struck again: the ball dropped into the box and found Ollie Watkins completely unmarked, and from close range he could not miss and tucked it away.

⚽ Rowe gets the goal he deserved: game back on!

MINUTE 90 - At last came the most deserved goal of the night: Jonathan Rowe got what he had been chasing all game. Once again he started from the left, cut inside and unleashed a powerful right-footed shot that gave Emiliano Martínez no chance, sending the ball into the far corner. A massive goal, built with persistence and quality.

😲 Bologna close to a fully deserved goal: Berna hits the post, Dibu MAGIC!

MINUTE 78 - Bologna tried to get back into it with pride and came within inches of scoring. Once again it was Rowe creating the danger: he broke through on the left, reached the byline and pulled it back for Bernardeschi, who hit it first time but could only find the post.

A few minutes later the story was the same: Rowe again at the heart of it, cutting onto his right foot and aiming for the far corner with a precise effort, but Emiliano Martínez produced a superb save to turn it behind for a corner, once more denying the Rossoblù.

⚽ Disaster while playing out: Watkins picks Heggem’s pocket and scores

MINUTE 51 - An unacceptable error from Bologna: you simply cannot be this careless and overconfident against a strong, well-organised side like Aston Villa.

A huge mistake while building from the back by Italiano’s men, yet another this season: Emiliano Buendía’s high press threw Heggem into panic, the ball broke loose in the box and was collected by Ollie Watkins. The striker found himself one-on-one with Ravaglia, took a moment, then coolly beat him through the legs: pure ruthlessness, and Bologna were punished.

⚽ Ravaglia completely misses it: Konsa scores, Villa lead

MINUTE 44 - Aston Villa went ahead, and not through any real merit of their own.

A serious, in fact very serious mistake from Ravaglia coming off his line, as he completely missed the ball from Youri Tielemans’ corner: at the back post Ezri Konsa made no mistake and nodded into an empty net. A heavy blow for Bologna, who went behind from the visitors’ first shot on target.

🥵 Now it’s just bad luck: Ferguson hits the bar!

MINUTE 30 - Bologna kept pushing relentlessly and almost doubled their lead. Rowe was once again the star, unstoppable down the left, causing panic and delivering a perfect ball into the middle: Ferguson arrived right on cue, but his effort crashed against the crossbar.

The Rossoblù were inches away from scoring and hugely unfortunate, while Aston Villa were clearly struggling to contain the English winger’s bursts forward.

❌ Rowe creates, Castro scores: ball over the line, VAR rules it out for offside

MINUTE 26 - A crazy moment that left Bologna fans’ joy stuck in their throats.

The home side found the breakthrough through Castro at the end of a lightning counterattack orchestrated by Rowe, who did brilliantly to burst through and pick out his teammate: the shot, helped by a deflection, deceived everyone and ended up over the line despite the desperate attempt from the English defence. The referee initially awarded it, but after the review came the cold shower: offside, goal disallowed.

From the VAR images, the offside really was by the finest of margins.

😍 The Dall’Ara lifts the team and turns 🔴🔵

The first images coming from the Dall’Ara are beautiful: all the fans with scarves and flags, and especially those in the stands wearing red and blue plastic ponchos, ready to create a stunning visual spectacle. As the teams came out, there was also the message: "Come on Bologna".

🗣 Italiano and Di Vaio, pre-match comments

"It’s great to be here, playing matches like this. Let’s see if we can perform. We’re up against a great team and a coach who has already won this competition four times. They are the favourites, we need a huge performance to put them in trouble," said the Bologna coach to Sky Sport.

"The journey we’ve had has been very positive. After the first match in Birmingham we showed our level and our quality, getting through from a tough group. Tonight we hope to repeat those performances against the best team, or at least one of the best teams, in the tournament," were the words of sporting director Di Vaio.

🗣 Emery: "It will be a very demanding match"

"I asked the team to show respect for this competition, it is difficult to be competitive at a high level against Bologna. Collectively we need to be very organised and try to give our maximum, it will be a very demanding match," said the Aston Villa coach to Sky Sport.

✅ OFFICIAL lineups

BOLOGNA (4-3-3): Ravaglia; Joao Mario, Lucumí, Heggem, Miranda; Ferguson, Freuler, Pobega; Bernardeschi, Castro, Rowe. Coach: Italiano

ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Dibu Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Pau Torres, Digne; Onana, Douglas Luiz; McGinn, Tielemans, Rogers; Watkins. Coach: Emery

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 STEFANO RELLANDINI - AFP or licensors