Jhon Duran marked his first Champions League start with a goal as Aston Villa secured a 2-0 victory against Bologna at Villa Park on Tuesday.
Both teams came out of the blocks well as an end-to-end affair unfolded in the opening stages of the game.
Boosted by immense support from the travelling Bologna supporters, who packed out the away end, Thijs Dallinga came closest to opening the scoring for the visitors but was denied by the outstretched arm of Emiliano Martinez.
Villa grew into the game following the early scare and quickly took control of proceedings after that, with both Duran and John McGinn calling Lukasz Skorupski into action before the break.
After being left frustrated in the first half, Villa restarted the fixture with the same vigour in the final third and finally broke the deadlock through a long-range free-kick from McGinn (55).
Despite sounding spectacular, it was a fairly fortunate opener from the Villa captain.
Standing over the set-piece, the Scotland star teased a ball into the box, which evaded players from both sides, before curling into the back of the net.
Duran netted Villa’s second with a neat finish at the near-post nine minutes later shortly before being substituted off.
Unai Emery’s side are now sitting pretty at the top of the new Champions League format and become just the third team to win their opening three games of the competition without conceding a goal.
McGinn: We are building something amazing
Aston Villa captain John McGinn speaking to TNT Sports: “We don’t want to stop here. It puts us in a great position. Some players are back and now we look really strong.
“What we are building here is amazing.
“This is home for me. It is my seventh season here, we’ve had ups and downs. It has been a roller-coaster. Hopefully we can keep climbing.”
Villa showing strength in numbers
Sky Sports’ Patrick Rowe:
A lot has been made of fixture congestion and growing injury concerns across teams – and Aston Villa have been no different to any other in this respect.
In the last home game against Manchester United, Emery saw Ezri Konsa limp off in the first half and was already without captain McGinn who had picked up an injury back in September.
His squad looked thin and alarm bells were ringing. But on Tuesday night, Villa showed their strength in numbers.
McGinn, the scorer of the first, made his return to the starting line-up and Duran, who was given a start by the Villa boss, doubled it shortly after.
On top of this, Ross Barkley’s introduction at half-time helped propel Villa forward and long-term absentee Boubacar Kamara also made his first appearance since February.
The depth Emery has at his disposal was the deciding factor in this fixture and will be hugely important throughout the campaign.
The Villa boss stated prior to this game he wanted to win a trophy and cannot waste time at the club – having depth like he called upon here will improve their chances massively.
