Two-goal Watkins reveals honest half-time message for Villa team-mates during win over Bologna | OneFootball

Ollie Watkins says he told his Aston Villa team-mates that they needed to “wake up” at half time of their 3-1 Europa League win over Bologna.

Watkins scored twice along with an Ezri Konsa goal to give Villa a two-goal advantage in their quarter-final tie.

Jonathan Rowe had brought the score back to 2-1 on 90 minutes, but Watkins added a very late third for his side to restore their two-goal lead for the second leg at Villa Park.

The striker hailed his side’s efforts but admits he thought they were lucky to be ahead at the break.

“It was massive,” he said on the win.

“First half, they were putting us under a lot of pressure, and they were dominating the game.

“I think we got lucky. At half-time, I said to the boys: ‘Come on, lads, we need to wake up.’

“We got lucky, they had a disallowed goal, and if that turned and it stayed 1-0, it would have been a long way back for us, because here, great atmosphere as you can see, and they were playing tough today.

“We got the goal from the set-piece, and I think that took the sting out of the game. They were dominating just before half-time, great time to score, and then we’ve come out, obviously got the second goal, and from there, we looked like we were always going to go on and score more.”