Emi MartÃnez the hero as Villa beat Lille on penalties
When the draw had taken place for the Quater and Semi-Finals of the Uefa Conference League, I admit, I was worried. Aston Villa were drawn away from home on both occasions and let’s be honest, the route to the final couldn’t have got much harder. However, if you are to be successful, you have to beat the best.
I thought that Lille looked on another level compared to any other side we had come up against in the competition when they came to Villa Park last week.
What if Ollie Watkins was awarded the penalty" What if Villa kept the clean sheet they probably should have collected" All ifs and buts and the reality was we had a one-goal lead against a side who were very good on home soil.
Report: Lille 2-1 Aston Villa (Agg: 3-3) Penalties: 3-4 Unai Emery made two changes from the side that beat Arsenal at the weekend. Matty Cash and Douglas Luiz replaced Diego Carlos and Morgan Rogers, who both started on the bench.
Lille had a full week to prepare as the French Football Federation backed their side by giving them a week off at the weekend and they made just one change from their first-leg defeat at Villa Park. Yusuf Yazici replaced the injured Edon Zhegrova.
The home side started brightly from the off and it didn’t take them long to get back on level terms across the two games. Gabriel Gudmundsson was able to cut the ball back for Yazici who hit the ball with a wonderful first-time finish.
Villa were struggling and would have been happy to hear the h...
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