Villa accomplished a professional job in the gorgeous surroundings of Bosnia by winning a point against Zrinjski Mostar.
Unai Emery made a slew of substitutions, offering minutes to fringe players and players returning from long layoffs. As a result, Dendoncker, Duran, Moreno, and Ramsey made their debuts. Between the posts, 20-year-old Filip Marschall made an unexpected debut.
Against a serene backdrop, the traveling Villa support that hadn’t mustered tickets in the home stand, were bizarrely confined to a chicken wire cage. You can’t have everything.
After an unbelievable performance to beat Man City and an equally impressive win over Arsenal, we’d be truly spoiled of late.
In reality, it was a challenging watch, often played at a slow speed. The pitch was cutting up and obviously bobbly, which didn’t help. First-world issues, really.
The first half flew by, but Villa took the lead on the hour mark. Unsurprisingly, substitute John McGinn’s influence was immediate, with the in-form club captain looping a cross into the area.
Nicolò Zaniolo was well placed in the 6-yard box, controlling well before slotting a finish beyond the helpless keeper. It was a first goal for the loanee Italian international, whose Villa career appears decidedly uncertain.
Following a worrying opening setback to Legia Warsaw, Villa needed to be disciplined in order to finish first in the group. Aside from the first match, nobody could dispute that this hasn’t been a well-managed stage of the competition.
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The payoff is more than just fewer games, with group winners advancing directly to the competition’s last 16. It will be interesting to see what happens next, with the draw for the competition’s restart in March 2024 taking place in late February.
Teams that have completed:
Group winners and into the last 16: Aston Villa, Club Bruges, Fenerbahce, Fiorentina, Lille, Maccabi Tel Aviv, PAOK, Viktoria Plzen.
Seeded in play-offs: Bodo/Glimt, Dinamo Zagreb, Eintracht Frankfurt, Ferencvaros, Gent, Legia Warsaw, Ludogorets, Slovan Bratislava.
