Aston Villa are back in Europe’s top competition for the fist time since 1983 with this season’s campaign technically being their first in the Champions League following the 1992/93 rebrand. Unai Emery’s team finished fourth in the Premier League last year after a superb campaign and a tense finish saw them edge out Tottenham for the final spot.
Villa are the 11th English team to feature in the Champions League and will have their work cut out for them. In a revamped format that sees teams competing for different league positions, Villa – who kick off their campaign tonight against Young Boys – will also take on the likes of Juventus, Bayern Munich and Celtic in this first stage of the tournament.
Emery’s side will look to build on their run to the Europa Conference League semi-finals last year and will take plenty of momentum into the match having come from two goals down to beat Everton 3-2 at Villa Park on Saturday. In contrast Young Boys lost their opening three league games of the season and sit bottom of the Swiss Super League so should be low on confidence.
Follow all the Champions League action with our live blog below:
Second half! Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa
Diego Carlos is coming on for Aston Villa at the break. He replaces Lamare Bogarde in defence. For Young Boys Cheikh Niasse is hooked and Meschack Elia replaces him.
Villa get the ball rolling again.
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:53
HT Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa
Here’s a look at both of Aston Villa’s goals. First up Youri Tielemans’ opener:
And then Jacob Ramsey’s second:
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:48
HT Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa
Lamare Bogarde is the third-youngest Dutchman to start a Champions League game for an English club (20 years, 256 days), only behind Jeffrey Bruma (19 years, 10 days) and Patrick van Aanholt (20 years, 86 days) in the same game for Chelsea in November 2010.
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:44
HT Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:40
Half-time! Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa
45+4 mins: No further goals before the break but it’s still a comfortable lead for Aston Villa who have been superb in the last 20 minutes or so.
It took them a while to settle on the artificial turf but they seem to have sussed it out and have scored two fine goals. more to come in the second half.
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:36
NO goal! Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa
45 mins: Watkins’ goal has been ruled out! VAR took a look at it and decided that he handled the ball in the build-up.
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:32
GOAL! Young Boys 0-3 Aston Villa (Ollie Watkins, 43 mins)
Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers link up again on the left side to get the ball up the pitch. It comes across to Ollie Watkins who chests it down and shoots.
The first effort is blocked but the ball comes back to him and he fires it into the back of the net!
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:31
Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa
41 mins: Aston Villa look very confident now. They’ve overcome a tricky start to score two goals and give themselves a strong cushion in this match now.
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:29
GOAL! Young Boys 0-2 Aston Villa (Jacob Ramsey, 38 mins)
Lucas Digne makes a run into space on the left and receives the ball. He sends it across to Morgan Rogers who tries to find Ollie Watkins in the box.
The pass is intercepted and prodded to Mohamed Camara. He plays it back to his goalkeeper but Watkins gets there first and is taken out.
The referee lets play go on as Jacob Ramsey is first to the loose ball and side foots it into the back of the net!
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:27
Young Boys 0-1 Aston Villa
36 mins: Ezri Konsa floats a long ball into the box where it gets nodded down to Morgan Rogers. He shuffles into space and delivers a cross into the six-yard area that gets cleared.
The ball comes to Ebrima Colley who pings a cross field pass up the pitch. The counter attack is a good one and the ball is sent across to Zachary Athekame who messes up the effort at goal.
Mike Jones17 September 2024 18:23
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