Aston Villa earned a huge result in Italy on Thursday night, beating Bologna 3-1 in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
Ezri Konsa put Villa ahead in the first half, before Ollie Watkins doubled the lead early in the second period.
Jonathan Rowe then reduced Bologna’s deficit in the 90th minute, but Watkins scored his second goal of the evening at the death, restoring the two-goal lead.
Here are the talking points…
Villa have one foot in the semi-finals
By beating Bologna for the third time in 18 months, Villa have become only the sixth English club to win eight major European games in a row.
It wasn’t a particularly impressive first 30 minutes by any means, and in fact Bologna were unlucky not to be at least one goal to the good.
Konsa diverted Santiago Castro’s cross over the line, before VAR ruled the goal out and Lewis Ferguson hit the underside of the bar.
Villa struggled to get going, with Morgan Rogers and Emi Buendia completing just six passes combined in the first half an hour.
Youri Tielemans, however, was Villa’s best player in the first half, and he created the opportunity for Konsa’s goal, with goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia failing to reach the ball before picking out of his own net.
Watkins’ double puts Villa in a very strong position, and frankly, being knocked out from this position would be an almighty collapse.
Villa have won all five of their home European matches this season, and have claimed victory in all of their previous eight.
Unbeaten in 11, Villa have only failed to beat Juventus in home European matches, while stretching it back even further, over the course of Emery’s tenure, Villa have won 16 of their 18 home matches.
Bologna will need to beat Villa 3-0, 4-1, 5-2 and so on, or win on penalties at Villa Park to knock Emery’s team out.
Vincenzo Italiano’s side play man-to-man and high-risk football anyway, but it goes without saying that they will need to press onto Villa from the first minute and commit numbers in attack, leaving space at the back for their opponents to exploit.
Aston Villa have become only the sixth English club to win eight major European games in a row. Two more set-piece goals take their tally to 20 this season, for a third straight campaign. Bologna had lost only two of their previous 33 home European games. Big result. 🇮🇹#AVFC pic.twitter.com/67pWlh0bzt
— John Townley (@johntownley11) April 10, 2026
Watkins finding his form
Watkins has now scored 12 goals across all competitions this season, and is hitting form just at the right time for Villa.
No doubt playing with the setback of being left out of the recent England squad in the back of his mind, there are some crucial weeks ahead for the Villa striker.
Watkins has now bagged four goals in his last five matches, having also scored a key goal in the first leg against Lille in France.
“When we speak about collectively and individually, Watkins is a fighter,” Emery said of his forward after full-time. “Sometimes he plays brilliantly like today, and sometimes not. When he doesn’t score we lack something from him.
“Always he plays well because he always does his task and he works for the team. Scoring two goals is fantastic for him and for us. He is always consistent in his work. The team, more or less, we had confidence to connect with him, sometimes through Morgan or Emi Buendia.
“As well, we were better than the first half in the long balls for Watkins. It is positive for him and this is the next way and the example for Tammy Abraham. We need Abraham adapting in our idea and competing like he is doing, Watkins. This is the message for the squad and the players.
“The result is fantastic and the individual performances like Watkins was really important for us and for him. Then, we will try to get everyone together for the next challenges against Forest and Bologna.”
Rowe should be on the radar
A previous transfer target for Villa, Rowe should emerge on the club’s radar again ahead of the summer window.
His profile is what Villa are missing, with pace and quality in abundance.
The 22-year-old gave Matty Cash a hard time in the first half, before coming alive again late in the second half.
He called Emi Martinez into a top save shortly before bending one past him, having checked inside and bent the ball into the far corner.
Rowe was a target for Villa a couple of years ago, and was an option when Morgan Rogers joined in January 2024.
“He is playing progressively better this season,” Emery said of Rowe in his post-match press conference. “We played the first match in the Europa League against Bologna. Since there and to the analysis we did now, the last matches he has performed very well.
“He scored a fantastic goal and we must respect them individually and collectively. I will respect them again and improving things because he threatened us more than we planned. They have very good players.”
Be the first to comment