Aston Villa 0-0 Juventus

Aston Villa and Juventus could not be separated as they played out a closely-fought goalless draw in their UEFA Champions League clash.

Emi Martínez, having paraded the prestigious Yashin Trophy to supporters before kick-off, produced a superb one-handed save to claw Francisco Conceicao’s stooping second-half header off the goal-line, underlining why he was last month crowned the best goalkeeper in the world for a second consecutive year.

Lucas Digne saw his free-kick hit the crossbar in first-half injury time, while John McGinn’s sweeping goalbound effort was blocked by the outstretched foot of Manuel Locatelli.

Villa thought they had clinched a dramatic triumph deep into injury time as Morgan Rogers found the net from close range, but his effort was ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio.

There was very little between the two sides at Villa Park as they were forced to settle for a point apiece on matchday five.

It leaves Unai Emery’s side still unbeaten on home soil in Europe’s elite club competition, registering three clean sheets in the process, having now collected a total of 10 points ahead of next month’s trip to RB Leipzig.

Boubacar Kamara, Lucas Digne and Matty Cash returned to Villa’s starting XI as manager Emery made three changes from Saturday’s Premier League draw against Crystal Palace.

It represented a Champions League debut for Cash, who made his 150^th appearance for Villa against the Bianconeri.

Juventus, meanwhile, were without Douglas Luiz after the former Villa midfielder, who made a summer switch to Turin, was not named in their travelling squad.

The scene was perfectly set as Villa Park played host to another memorable atmosphere under the lights, with fireworks, flames, flags waving in the stands and a Holte End tifo of the Villan ahead of kick-off.

Juventus dominated possession in the opening quarter but it was Villa who went closest to opening the scoring as Pau Torres’ header from Leon Bailey’s corner found the roof of the net.

The encounter’s first shot on target came in the 37^th minute as Ollie Watkins’ effort from inside the area was parried to safety by Di Gregorio.

Cash saw his fierce strike blocked from the subsequent corner before Timothy Weah drilled over the crossbar on the counter-attack.

Martínez had to get down to his left to deny Conceicao before Digne came within inches of finding a breakthrough in first-half injury time as his 20-yard free-kick hit the woodwork.

Villa started the second half with intent although clear-cut chances continued to be hard to come by.

Yet the hosts were indebted to Martínez shortly after the hour mark as he made a brilliant stop to keep out Conceicao’s low header at the far post from Teun Koopmeiners’ deep corner.

The encounter was starting to open up and McGinn came close to finding the crucial opener as his effort was blocked by the foot of Locatelli.

Ross Barkley and Jhon Durán were introduced with just over 10 minutes remaining as the Villans chased a late winner.

And they thought they had it with almost the last kick off the match as Rogers converted from close range, only to see the effort chalked off as Diego Carlos was adjudged to have fouled Di Gregorio as Tielemans’ free-kick came into the area.

It meant the third meeting between the two clubs, who met in the 1982/83 European Cup quarter-finals, finished honours even.