Aston Villa 1-0 Bologna

Aston Villa began their UEFA Europa League campaign in the best possible fashion, seeing off Bologna at Villa Park.

John McGinn repeated the trick from our Champions League clash against the Serie A side last season, opening the scoring with a drive from outside the box after 13 minutes.

The hosts spurned the chance to double their advantage just after the hour mark when Ollie Watkins' penalty was saved by Lukasz Skoruspki.

The crossbar was rattled when Santiago Castro crashed a header against it soon after, but Villa held firm to pick up a clean sheet and three points on Matchday One.  

Unai Emery’s team make a quick return to Villa Park on Sunday when they resume domestic action against Fulham in the Premier League before heading to Rotterdam for their second Europa League tie next week.

A stunning polaroid-themed tifo, capturing the joy European nights bring the Villa Faithful, helped set the scene for the start of a third consecutive campaign on the continent as Villa’s first foray into the main draw of this competition since the 2008/09 season began.

Manager Emery brought Marco Bizot, Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen and Donyell Malen into his starting XI, and he watched on as his side made a bright start in B6, going close after six minutes.

Evann Guessand broke away down the right, surged into the box and fired a shot across goal, with only a fine save from Skoruspki and subsequent clearance from Federico Bernardeschi denying him the opener.

But Villa Park didn’t have to wait much longer before their team broke through, erupting with delight when McGinn punished the Italians once more.

After a well-worked corner routine almost produced a goal for Morgan Rogers, the ball broke to the Villa skipper, who took a touch and lashed a low effort into the bottom corner.

Confidence coursed through the hosts, and they poured forward again soon after in search of a second, with Malen seeing a close-range shot well blocked by Bologna’s ‘keeper.

Emi Buendía curled an effort wide as Villa continued to threaten, while Bizot was untested at the other end as the first half drew to a close.

The visitors, who have started their league campaign with two wins and a pair of defeats, showed greater attacking intent after the restart, seeing Bernardeschi register their first shot on goal.

With the hour mark approaching, Watkins and Jadon Sancho entered the fray in place of Malen and Buendía as Emery looked to quell Bologna’s momentum.

And the former was immediately into the action, winning a penalty after being felled in the box by Martin Vitík following superb work to win the ball back high up from Maatsen.

Watkins brushed himself down and took the spot kick, but saw his effort saved by Skorupski, whose trailing leg kept the ball out.

Shortly after, Villa survived a huge scare when Castro crashed a header against the crossbar from Riccardo Orsolini’s cross.

The stadium grew increasingly nervous as the match ticked into the final ten minutes, with Bizot having to be alert when Emil Holm planted a header on target from a corner.

Sancho sought to put the match to bed when he cut in from the left and sent a rasping drive flying narrowly over the crossbar.

Bizot clawed away a goalbound header with one of the final actions of the game to ensure that Villa Park savoured the return of European nights with a hard-fought victory.