At A Glance
Villa Park hosts European football for the first time since 2010 on Thursday night when Aston Villa take on Hibernian in the second leg of their Europa Conference League play-off.
Unai Emery’s team hold a five-goal lead from their encounter at Easter Road last week and they’ll hope to finish the job in style to confirm a place in the group stages.
Villa were further boosted by another strong display on Sunday when Burnley were beaten 3-1 at Turf Moor in the Premier League, with a Matty Cash brace and Moussa Diaby doing the damage.
Lee Johnson led Hibernian through two rounds of qualifying in the Europa Conference League and into the first leg of this tie, but he was relieved of his duties on Sunday.
It came after the Edinburgh club lost 3-2 at home against Livingston, making it three consecutive defeats to start the Scottish Premier League season.
Former captain David Gray has been named caretaker manager and will take charge of Hibs for the game.
The First Leg
Aston Villa took control of the tie with a commanding performance at a pumped-up Easter Road.
Hibernian stood off Lucas Digne time and again to their detriment, with the full-back’s pinpoint crosses creating three of Villa’s five goals.
There was a hat-trick for Ollie Watkins and one for Leon Bailey before Douglas Luiz rounded off the scoring from the penalty spot.
European Pedigree
Hibernian were the first British club to participate in European club competition. The Scottish side were one of 16 teams invited to take part in the inaugural European Cup in 1955, reaching the semi-finals before losing to Reims.
The Hibees were also the first Scottish team to compete in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960, beating Barcelona en route to the semi-finals.
Hibernian have met English opposition in Europe on four occasions, twice coming up against Leeds United and Liverpool, but have never prevailed.
Overall, the Scottish side have competed in the European Cup, UEFA Cup, Cup Winners’ Cup, Europa Conference League and Intertoto Cip in addition to the Fairs Cup.
Ron Saunders guided Aston Villa into Europe for the first time in 1975 and the club have appeared in European competitions during 17 seasons.
Saunders led Villa to the quarter-final of the European Cup in 1981/82 before leaving the club mid-season. Tony Barton took over and guided the team to the final, where they overcame Bayern Munich 1-0 on a famous night in Rotterdam. They also collected the European Super Cup a few months later.
Appearances in the UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup and Europa League have followed, but this is the club’s first foray into Europe since 2010.
Team News
Unai Emery may look to rotate his starting XI for the game, with Nicolò Zaniolo among those pushing for minutes after a strong debut off the bench against Burnley.
Emi Martinez missed the weekend’s win with a claf complaint, while Jacob Ramsey, Emi Buendia and Tyrone Mings remain sidelined.
Harry McKirdy, Chris Cadden and Jojo Wollacott will all miss out for Hibs.
Where To Watch
If you can’t be at Villa Park for the match, you can watch all the action live with a VillaTV Match Pass.
Match Passes are priced at £4.99 and can be purchased via the link below…
Watch Aston Villa v Hibernian on Villa TV
