Villa closing in on Europa League knockout stages
Second-half substitute Youri Tielemans hit the winner to help Aston Villa move a step closer to automatic qualification in the Europa League with a 2-1 win at Basel.
Villa’s win means they are now three points clear inside the top eight with two matches to play and guaranteed themselves a play-off spot at the very least.
Evann Guessand got Villa off to a dream start with his second goal of the Europa League campaign but the home side grew into it, Leo Leroy saw a goal ruled out for offside but Flavius Daniliuc was not to be denied an equalising goal moments later.
Tielemans replaced Matty Cash at the break and it only took him eight minutes to make his mark when he restored Villa’s lead with a neat finish.
Basel had won their last seven Europa League matches at home which made Villa’s victory at St. Jakob-Park all the more impressive and stretched their impressive winning run to eight matches in all competitions.
Basel opened the contest with a couple of half chances which forced Marco Bizot into early saves to deny Dominik Schmid’s tame volley and Leroy from outside the area.
But, Villa made the breakthrough with 12 minutes on the clock.
The home side failed to deal with a corner that was swung into the box by Cash and the ball dropped nicely for Guessand who turned and squeezed an effort past Marwin Hitz.
For all of Aston Villa’s dominance, Basel thought they got themselves level when Leroy arrowed a volley into the bottom left corner but VAR judged Schmid to be offside in the build-up.
Villa had been warned but Basel got themselves a legitimate equaliser.
Basel were given a free-kick midway inside the Villa half and Bizot came out to collect Xherdan Shaqiri’s ball into the box, but Daniliuc nipped in before the Villa keeper and poked it into the back of the net.
Villa restored their lead and it came courtesy of substitute Tielemans who collected a pass from Emi Buendia and swept a beautiful one-touch finish into the bottom right corner from outside the box.
Tielemans’ introduction proved vital and he was running the show. He almost supplied Villa with a third with a neat pass into Jadon Sancho who hit straight at Hitz.
But Basel were not out of the contest, some careless play from Sancho allowed the home side to attack but Philip Otele failed to punish them with an effort straight at Lamare Bogarde.
Basel threw men forward in hope of an equaliser, Ibrahim Salah came off the bench and guided a free header towards goal but Morgan Rogers’ vital block meant Villa took the points back to England.
