Aston Villa make their mark in France, beat Lille in Europa League | OneFootball

The Villains took the first leg of the round of 16, and as visitors. With a stunning goal from Ollie Watkins, Unai Emery’s side prevailed 1-0 away from home. Thus, Aston Villa made headlines and beat Lille in France.

Unai Emery’s men started off better. In fact, at the 19th minute, they threatened with a powerful right-footed shot from Morgan Rogers that went just wide of Berke Özer’s right post. Later, there was a great team move started by Amadou Onana and finished by the Belgian himself with a low cross that Aïssa Mandi managed to clear just in time.

Lille responded at the 43rd minute of the first half. Tiago Santos played a brilliant one-two with Benjamin André, who sent in the cross. However, Olivier Giroud’s header went just wide. In the very next play, Romain Perraud tried his luck from distance and the much-whistled Dibu Martínez made the save.

With a goal from Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa made headlines and beat Lille in France

In the second half, both teams played more cautiously. Even so, the victory went to the Villains. The only goal came from a long ball by Ezri Konsa. Emiliano Buendía flicked it on. And it was Watkins who finished it off with a looping header over the goalkeeper.

Lille didn’t want to leave any gaps to avoid an even worse defeat. And in the end, Aston Villa got the result they wanted with a 1-0 win in France. Beyond that, everything remains wide open in the round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

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