Preview: Villa and Bologna meet for the first time
Men
22 October 24
Aston Villa will look to maintain their strong start in the UEFA Champions League when Bologna arrive at Villa Park on Tuesday night.
Unai Emery's side are one of seven clubs to boast a 100% winning record after the first two matchdays following victories against BSC Young Boys and Bayern Munich.
They will now look to build on those results and a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions when they go head-to-head with Bologna for the first time.
Bologna, who are making their first appearance in Europe's top competition since 1964, are back on English soil after a 2-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield on matchday two.
The Serie A side drew their opening game of the competition 0-0 versus Shakhtar Donetsk and they've racked up the draws domestically.
Under new head coach Vincenzo Italiano, the team have lost only once in eight league games but have also drawn six of them, including a 2-2 draw with Genoa on Saturday.
Stats
Only Barcelona’s Iñigo Martínez (20) has completed more progressive carries over 10 metres in the UEFA Champions League this season than Bologna’s Dan Ndoye (19).
Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers has completed more dribbles than any other player in the UEFA Champions League this season (9), with five of those coming against Bayern Munich last time out.
Only Bremer and Kamil Piatkowski (both 5) have played more line-breaking passes breaking two or more lines among central defenders in the UEFA Champions League this season than Aston Villa’s Pau Torres (4). Indeed, it was a line-breaking pass that provided the assist for Jhon Durán’s winner against Bayern Munich last time out.
Only Feyenoord (606) have applied more pressures in the opposition’s half in the UEFA Champions League this season than Bologna (572), with 353 of them coming in the final third, only Manchester City (395) and Atlético Madrid (358) having more in 2024-25.
Victory for Aston Villa will see Unai Emery pick up his 25th win in the UEFA Champions League, becoming the fifth Spanish manager to achieve as many wins in the competition after Pep Guardiola, Rafael Benítez, Vicente del Bosque and Luis Enrique.
Bologna are winless in their last four games in major European competition (D2 L2), and could become the first side to fail to score in their first three games in the UEFA Champions League since FK Austria Wien in 2013-14 (a run of four).
Since the competition rebrand in 1992-93, Aston Villa could become only the third side to win their opening three games in the UEFA Champions League without conceding after Málaga in 2012-13 and Leicester City in 2016-17.
Aston Villa have won both of their games in the UEFA Champions League this season – 3-0 v Young Boys and 1-0 v Bayern Munich. If they win here, they’ll equal their longest streak of victories in the European Cup/Champions League, last stringing together three consecutive wins in September-October 1981.
After winning their first three games against English opponents in major European competition, Bologna have lost their last two such games, both away against Leeds United in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in April 1967 and to Liverpool in this season’s UEFA Champions League.
Aston Villa and Bologna have never faced in any competition. The Villans have lost four of their six major European games against Italian sides, with the two wins both coming at home against Internazionale in October 1990 and September 1994, both in the UEFA Cup.
Matchday Two
Bologna travelled to Anfield for their second match of the league phase, losing out to Liverpool on Merseyside.
The Italians didn’t lay down and saw a goal disallowed for offside before Alexis Mac Allister tapped home from close range to open the scoring.
Dan Ndoye hit the crossbar and the post as Bologna fought to get back into the game, but they were consigned to defeat by the left boot of Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian cut in from the right and bent an exquisite effort beyond the grasp of Lukasz Skorupski to seal the win for Liverpool.
Team News
Unai Emery has an almost fully fit squad to choose from again after his squad came through Saturday's game at Fulham unscathed.
Robin Olsen was the only player unavailable for selection for that game through injury.
Bologna's Villa loanee Samuel Iling-Jr is a doubt for the game after missing their draw with Genoa at the weekend.
Dan Ndoye, Michel Aebischer and Martin Erlic could also be set to sit out again, while captain Lewis Ferguson is back in training.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
"They are being successful the last years, of course. They are a team with a huge history in Italy. Last year, they played fantastic with Thiago Motta, and they signed a new coach. He was successful, playing the last two finals in the Conference League. They are keeping the same more or less players and the same more or less successful way. They deserve more points than they have now. They have started with a new coach who is really playing very well in combination and defensively, being aggressive. They played a fantastic match against Liverpool and they deserved more against Liverpool."
Unai Emery
"This is clearly an important match. We need to try and get points. First and foremost, we need a strong performance, because without that it’s difficult. In our previous two games, we’ve done well in that regard, but now we need to add a bit more cunning and ‘fury’ to try and get a result. They [Villa] have a different identity to Liverpool, especially on ball possession. They create a block with everyone in your half. They attack space in transitions too. Sometimes they leave you to play, but when they get the ball, they are very dangerous as they know what they are doing. They haven’t lost in a long time and they have high level players. We know who we are facing because we speak about it and we have to be ready to be strong."
Vincenzo Italiano
