sport news Aston Villa 2-1 Lille: Hosts claim slender first-leg lead in quarter-final tie ... trends now
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Aston Villa will head to northern France next week knowing that if they avoid defeat, a first major European semi-final since 1982 awaits.
Goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn in either half gave Villa a two-goal advantage before
Lille pulled one back through Bafodo Diakite and Unai Emery’s side had Emiliano Martinez to thank on a night where the French side were repeatedly denied by the Argentinian keeper.
If anyone had doubts over the magnitude of this clash for Villa, then Emery’s programme notes were enough to show what it meant.
Ahead of his 1000th game in charge, the Spaniard wrote how ‘200 per cent’ was the minimum required, stressing that it was Villa’s first major European quarter-final since 1998.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins opened the scoring with his 25th goal of the season
Watkins scored in the 13th minute, left unmarked in the box to head in from a McGinn corner.
John McGinn doubled the lead with a fine strike into the bottom corner in the 56th minute
‘Let’s dream together. As it was 42 years ago,’ he added, of course referring back to Villa’s European Cup success in 1982.
Emery knows more than most about continental success with four Europa League titles to his name and named an unchanged eleven from the team that drew with Brentford.
Much had been made about Paulo Fonseca’s Lille side as France’s most
