Aston Villa 2 Young Boys 1: Unai Emery's men win on night marred by crowd trouble

The Netherlands international continued his fine form to help Villa secure a win which kept them on course for a top-eight finish in the Europa League, on a night which will be remembered for the antics of visiting Young Boys supporters. 

Malen was struck on the head when celebrating his 27th minute opener as dozens of bottles were launched from the away end towards Villa’s players.

More bottles and several seats were then hurled toward the pitch and police officers when he doubled the lead 15 minutes later, with referee Georgi Kabakov forced to briefly halt proceedings before order was restored.

The violence, weeks after police had conducted a huge operation for Villa’s last Europa League tie against Maccabi Tel Aviv at which no visiting fans were permitted, was among the worst seen inside the stadium for years, albeit concentrated in one area of the Doug Ellis Stand.

The rest of the evening, from Villa’s perspective, was serene until Joel Monteiro became the first visiting player to score in European competition this season, lashing home in the 90th minute. 

This was their 13th win in 15 home European matches in the last three seasons and never looked in doubt from the moment Malen, who has now scored seven goals for club and country since the start of October, headed them in front.

Young Boys, somewhat ironically considering the behaviour of their supporters, showed little appetite to attack for most of the evening. But after Chris Bedia saw an effort narrowly chalked off for offside with 20 minutes remaining, Monteiro scored to make stoppage time a little more nervy than needed.

Villa, who have won four out of five group stage matches, next head to Switzerland to face Basel knowing one more win could be enough to secure the top-eight finish which will see them skip the play-off round.

No team had conceded more goals than Young Boys through the first half of the group stage and it required the sharp reflexes of goalkeeper Marvin Keller to prevent them going behind within four minutes here.

Malen, clearly brimming with confidence following his match-turning substitute appearance in Sunday’s win at Leeds, found space 25 yards out and let fly with a shot which looked destined for the top corner before Keller tipped over with his fingertips.

Amadou Onana, another of the seven players drafted into the line-up, then diverted Youri Tielemans’ cross over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

Villa looked sharp and a pass from Tielemans over the top, though perhaps intended for Malen, found the run of Evann Guessand and only good work from Sandro Lauper prevented the forward from going through on goal. From the corner, Jadon Sancho was left in acres of space but from a tight angle sent his low shot straight at Keller.

It wasn’t completely one-way traffic and with their first serious attack the visitors gave Villa a scare, Rayan Raveloson bring a save out of Emi Martinez.

But a goal for the home side felt only a matter of time. Malen came close to breaking the deadlock when he tried to turn home Onana’s header after Morgan Rogers had got to the byline and crossed to the back post.

Moments later the striker made no mistake. Lamare Bogarde found Tielemans and when he sent in the cross, Malen beat Tanguy Zoukrou to the ball, Keller getting fingertips to the header but able only to turn it against the post on its way in.

Malen’s decision to then celebrate in front of the visiting supporters perhaps wasn’t the smartest but you didn’t expect the bottles which rained down in the direction of the scorer and his team-mates.

Rogers helped up his shirt to indicate he had been hit, while Malen himself had clearly taken one on the head judging by the red mark visible when play restarted.

That was far from the end of the matter. Three minutes before the break, Malen doubled the lead. 

Rogers stepped in front of Lauper to collect Bogarde’s cross and with his next touch sent Malen racing toward goal. The striker cut inside Lauper before lifting a finish powerfully beyond Keller and into the net.

This time the celebrations finished a safe distance from the visiting fans, Malen sliding to his knees before flashing a smile in their direction.

But more bottles still made their way onto the pitch and when Young Boys skipper Loris Benito went over, seemingly in an attempt to calm the situation, it only made things worse.

Several visiting supporters were escorted out by police, while a chair was thrown in the direction of officers. Referee Kabakov spoke to both Emery and opposite number Gerardo Seoane before play was restarted after a delay of around five minutes.

Sancho tested Keller with a powerful shot early in the second half before Malen had the ball in the net again, only to be denied his hat-trick because the provider, Rogers, had strayed just offside in the build-up.

On the hour mark he was one of four players removed from the action as Emery opted to freshen things up, no doubt with Sunday’s Premier League match against Wolves in mind.

Young Boys had barely mounted an attack but with 20 minutes to go seemed back in the game when Chris Bedia tapped home with his first touch after coming off the bench. Nearly three minutes later the goal was ruled out by VAR for the most marginal of offside calls.

Sancho spurned a great chance to score his first Villa goal but dragged wide before Monteiro made stoppage time interesting when he fired home.

Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez, Bogarde, Lindelof, Torres (Konsa 60), Maatsen, Tielemans (Watkins 60), Onana, Guessand, Rogers (Barkley 60), Sancho, Malen (Buendia 60) Subs not used: Cash, McGinn, Garcia, Kamara, Digne, Eliott, Oakley (gk), Bizot (gk).

Young Boys (4-2-3-1): Keller, Janko, Zoukrou (Wuthrich 82), Benito, Hadjam, Raveloson (Sanches 62), Lauper, Males (Virginius 62), Pech, Fassnacht (Monteiro 70), Cordova (Bedia 70) Subs not used: Andrews, Tsimba, Luthi, Rufener, Smith, Marzino (gk), Linder (gk).